A Study In Musicals
by Elektra Elentari
Summary: After John Watson and Sherlock Holmes meet over winter break, Sherlock moves and they discover that they now go the same school. However, while Sherlock fits in more with the smart kids, John is a basketball player. After they accidentally audition for the school musical and get a call back, Irene Adler and her cousin Jim are furious, not to mention the reaction of their friends.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my new story, guys! I have no idea why I'm posting this, I wrote it as a way to pass the time when I was alone at home, but it made me smile every time I read it because it's ridiculous, so I thought maybe it might make you smile too. :) Have fun!**

Edinburgh.

A teenage boy with black curly hair is sitting on a couch reading a book with the title _"Murder on the Orient Express"_. An older boy walks by and sees him still reading. He sighs and grabs the book out of his hands.

"Sherlock," he says "Enough reading."

"But Mycroft," Sherlock protests "I think I've solved the crime and…" he stops when he sees the look on his brother's face.

"You promised Mrs. Hudson you would have some fun on your last night in Edinburg and enjoy New Year's Eve," Mycroft said "And you know who will get the blame if she finds out you didn't."

"But those people are boring," Sherlock answers "And no one likes me anyway."

"Just try, Sherlock."

"Can you at least give me back my book?"

Mycroft raised an eyebrow. "I won't read," Sherlock said. His brother sighs and gives him back the book. "Do me a favour and change before you go to the party," he calls after his brother as he runs off "You can't go in your robe."

* * *

Meanwhile, another teenage boy is playing basketball with his father. "Keep working left, John," his father is saying "Got a guard in the championship game we're expecting. You'll torch them!"

"By going left?" John asks as he tries to get the ball past his father.

"Yeah. He looks middle, you take it downtown."

"Okay, like this?"

John manages to get the ball past his father and gets it through the hoop.

"Whoo! That's it man," John's dad says and holds up his hand for John to high five. "Sweet. I wanna see that in the game."

"Oh, you'll see that in the game," John says and they high five "Don't worry about me."

"Boys!"

They turn around. Neither had seen John's mother come.

"Did we really fly all this way just to play more basketball?" she asks them.

John and his dad exchange a look and answer, "Yeah," in unison.

"It's the last night of the holidays!" she says desperately, "John, there's a kids party downstairs."

"Kids party?" John asks.

"Young adults. Now go, shower up."

"Just a minute," John says bouncing the ball "I promise I'll go, but just one minute."

His mother rolls her eyes but smiles as he shoots again.

* * *

At the party.

People are talking, dancing and two kids are singing karaoke. John is wearing his favourite sweater and a pair of jeans. He walks in and without talking to anyone, leans against the wall.

Sherlock has changed into a suit and walks in. He too doesn't talk to anyone, instead he sits down and continues to read his book, despite the dim light. He smirks, Mycroft actually believed he was going to go to the stupid party.

The two kids who were singing finish the song and the audience applauds. "All right! How about that for a couple of snowboarders?" a guy who has grabbed a microphone says, which makes them cheer again. "Who's gonna rock the house next?" he says.

John yawns, this party is boring. Suddenly, he is blinded by a bright light and realises that there's a spotlight on him. His eyes widen in shock.

Sherlock tries to make out the words in a sentence and then, as if on que, a light appears to help him read. He smiles, but then realises what's going on.

The people are pushing them both towards the stage while John protests loudly that he can't sing.

When they're both on the stage the host gives them both a microphone. "Hey you know what? Someday you guys might thank me for this," he says. "Or not," he adds as he gets off the stage.

John gulps as the music starts playing and then begins reading the words.

"Living in my own world

Didn't understand

That anything can happen

When you take a chance"

' _I'm leaving.'_ he thought and took a few steps to leave the stage, but then the other boy began to sing.

"I never believed in

What I couldn't see

I never opened my heart

To all the possibilities"

His voice was great. John decided he wanted to sing with him after all. They began the chorus together and then both seemed more eager to do this.

"I know that something has changed

Never felt this way

And right here tonight

This could be the start

Of something new

It feels so right

To be here with you

Oh

And now looking in your eyes

I feel in my heart

The start of something new

Now who'd of ever thought that

We'd both be here tonight?

Oh yeah

And the world looks so much brighter

With you by my side

I know that something has changed

Never felt this way

I know it for real

This could be the start

Of something new

It feels so right

To be here with you

Oh

And now looking in your eyes

I feel in my heart

The start of something new

I never knew that it could happen

Till it happened to me

Oh

I didn't know it before

But now it's easy to see

Yeah

It's a start

Of something new

It feels so right

To be here with you

Oh

And now looking in your eyes

I feel in my heart

That it's the start

Of something new

It feels so right

To be here with you

Yeah

And now looking in your eyes

I feel in my heart

The start of something new

The start of something new

The start of something new"

The people who were listening began clapping. John turned to the boy. "John Watson," he said, offering his hand.

"Sherlock Holmes," he said and shook it.

"But seriously, you have an amazing voice," John said when they were outside.

"When you live with my brother you have to find a way to escape. But I was in the choir at primary school," Sherlock answered "Big mistake. But the teachers thought I was good so they gave me a solo once."

"Once?" John asked.

"Well, when I tried to do it I fainted," Sherlock answered "But you haven't done singing either."

"No," John said surprised that Sherlock knew that even though they'd just met. "But my showerhead is very impressed with my singing."

Sherlock chuckled and John thought it sounded wonderful. Meanwhile, the people at the party were counting down to the New Year. "10, 9, 8, 7...6, 5, 4...3, 2, 1!" Everyone began cheering and clapping. Sherlock realised that he'd probably have to go and see Mycroft. And it was getting late, they had a plane to catch the next morning.

"I guess I better go find my brother and wish him a happy new year," he told John.

"Yeah, me too," John said, disappointed he'd have to say goodbye to Sherlock, he was nice "I mean, not your brother. To my mum... and dad. Uh... I'll call you. I'll call you tomorrow."

"I prefer to text," Sherlock said.

"I'll text you then," John laughed slightly.

"Umm… okay, sure," Sherlock agreed and they pulled out their phones. John took a picture of Sherlock and then gave him his phone to write his number, while he took a picture of himself on Sherlock's and filled in his number. When he was done, he gave Sherlock his phone back and took his.

"Just so you know," John said looking at the picture of the boy "Singing with you is the most fun I've had on this entire vacation. So um... where do you live?"

He then realised that Sherlock had left without him noticing. He sighed and then turned back to the picture.

"Sherlock Holmes," he muttered to himself and smiled.

 **So yeah, that's chapter one. Hope you liked it or thought it was ridiculous, I don't know. Let me know in a review. I warn you, this is the most random thing I've ever written ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Huge thanks to DSCWin who reviewed, followed and favourited one more of my stories. I know favourited is not a word, but I'll make it one! Also thanks to those who also followed and favourited. You all mean a lot to me and I want to hug you all individually. *hugs***

London.

School has started again after the Christmas holidays. John gets out of the school bus and is instantly surrounded by his friends, cheerleaders and many other students. His best friend, Greg Lestrade, comes up to him.

"Hey, John," he says "How ya doing, mate?"

"What's up, Greg," John answers "Hey guys. Happy new year."

"Yeah. It's a happy Otter new year! In two weeks we're going to the championships with you leading us to infinity and beyond."

John smiles and Greg slaps him on the back.

Just then, Irene Adler steps out of an expensive car, wearing a short skirt, very revealing shirt and high heels and walks past them. She never failed to praise the fact that their school didn't have a school uniform.

"The ice princess returned from the North Pole," Sebastian Wilkes, another one of John's teammates, comments.

"You know, she probably spent the holidays the way she always does," Greg says.

"How's that?" John asks.

"Shopping for mirrors," Greg answers and everyone starts laughing.

* * *

Sherlock walked through the corridors of his new school, his and Mycroft's landlady, Mrs Hudson, next to him. Mycroft had signed as his guardian for school, but he was busy with his new job so Mrs Hudson had to take him to school.

"Mrs Hudson," he said folding his arms over his stomache "My stomache is hurting."

"It's only nerves, Sherlock," she said and patted his back, even though she knew he'd deny it.

"No, it's not," he said "I just don't wanna be the school's freak again."

Mrs Hudson sighed, she'd expected this would come. Sherlock had always had a hard at school and had been bullied a lot because, as he put it, he was smarter than the other kids and they didn't like it.

"Just be the Sherlock I love," she said and patted his shoulder before turning around and leaving.

"That Sherlock is the school's freak," he muttered. He took a deep breath and made his way across the corridor to get to his first class.

* * *

The students are taking their seats while the drama teacher, Miss Wenceslas, comes in. John is talking to one of his teammates when he sees that boy from the party, Sherlock, walk into the classroom. He can't believe it! He instantly pulls out his phone to call him, as it seems Sherlock hadn't noticed him.

Miss Wenceslas sat down and began talking while he searched for Sherlock's number. "I trust you all had splendid holidays," she says "Check the sign-up sheets in the lobby for new activities, Mr. Watson."

John looks up, she'd seen he hadn't paid attention. He smiles and she continues "Especially our winter musical. We will have singles auditions for our supporting roles and pairs auditions for our two leads."

Greg snorts at the idea of a musical and the teacher notices. "Mr. Lestrade, this is a place of learning, not a hockey arena," she points to his basketball and he places it in his lap. Satisfied, she starts talking again. "There is also a final sign-up sheet for next week's scholastic decathlon competition. Chem Club president Molly Hooper can answer all of your questions about that."

John finally finds Sherlock's number and calls him. Sherlock's phone starts ringing loudly.

"Ah, the mobile phone menace has returned to our crucible of learning," Wenceslas says. Irene pulls her phone out to check if it was hers that had rung. "Was it yours?" she asks her cousin Jim Moriarty who is also looking at his.

"Irene and Jim, cell phones," Wenceslas tells them and collects their phones. "I will see you in detention."

Irene gasps. The teacher walks over to Sherlock.

"We have zero tolerance for cell phones in class, so we will get to know each other in detention. Cell phone," she takes his phone as well. "And welcome to St Bart's High School, Mr. Holmes," she adds.

"Mr. Watson, I see your phone is involved. So we will see you in detention as well," she tells John.

"That's not even a possibility Miss Wenceslas," Greg interrupts "See we have basketball practice, and John..."

"Ah, that will be 15 minutes for you too, Mr. Lestrade. Count them."

"That could be tough for Greg, since he probably can't count that high," Molly Hooper whispers to Jacqui Stapleton. The whisper, however, does not go unnoticed by the teacher.

"Molly Hooper, 15 minutes," she announces and Molly's mouth falls open. Having collected all the phones, the teacher moves back to her desk.

"Shall the carnage continue? Holidays are over, people. Way over! Now any more comments, questions?" she says.

Henry Knight slowly raises his hand.

"Henry," she gives him permission to speak.

"So how were your holidays Miss Wenceslas?" he asks and everyone groans.

When the bell rang, Sherlock felt relieved he was leaving the classroom. For one, the students were idiots but it also meant he could talk to John.

"See you guys later," John says to his teammates, waiting for Sherlock to leave the classroom so they could talk. Finally, he appears and John stops him. "Hey!" he says smiling.

"I can't believe it," Sherlock says.

"Me neither," John agrees "But how?"

"My brother got a job that transferred us to London," Sherlock answers "I can't believe you live here. I mean, the basketball player and brother were obvious, but where you live…"

"Wait, what do you mean obvious?" John asks confused.

"From your phone," Sherlock says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world "It's expensive, e-mail enabled, MP3 player. You wouldn't waste money on this, it's a gift then. Scratches. Not one, many over time, it's been in the same pocket as keys and coins. The boy standing next to me wouldn't treat his one luxury item like this, so it's had a previous owner. Next bit's easy. You know it already."

John takes his phone out of his pocket and smiles as he understands what he meant. "The engraving," he says. On the back of his phone, there is an engraving with the words

 _Harry Watson_

"Harry Watson," Sherlock continues talking "Clearly a family member who's given you his old phone. Not your father, this is a young man's gadget. Unlikely you've got an extended family certainly not one you're close to, so brother it is. Now, the basketball player. When I met you, your right hand was red, and your left wasn't. You're right handed so you were probably using your right hand to do something. You have a pretty built up body, so you must be an athlete. Which sport involves hitting a ball with one hand? Basketball."

"That was amazing!" was the only thing John could say. Sherlock had just told him that he'd known these things since the met just by looking at him.

"It's not what people usually say," Sherlock comments.

"What do they usually say?" John asks.

"Piss off."

John laughed. "How did you learn to do that?" he asks.

"Like I told you that night, when you live with my brother you have to find a way to occupy yourself," Sherlock answers smiling softly.

"What about your parents?" John asks.

"Was I wrong?" Sherlock asks as his smile fades and John realises he didn't answer his question.

"About what?" he asks.

"My deductions," Sherlock explains "Did I get everything right?"

"Yes," John says "Except, Harry is short for Harriet."

Sherlock's mouth falls open. "Harry is your sister?" he asks.

"So, where did you disappear after New Year's Eve?" John changes the subject. He didn't love talking about Harry, they had never been really close anyway.

"Our flight to get here was the next morning," Sherlock explains "And why are you whispering?"

"Oh, well my friends know about the snowboarding. Um, I haven't quite told them about the singing thing," he answers. Just then, Mary Morstan, one of the cheerleaders comes to say hello to him. John waves at her.

"Too much for them to handle?" Sherlock asks.

"No, it was cool," John says, not wanting to give his new friend a fake impression "But, you know, my friends, it's uh... it's not what I do. That was, like, a different person."

They decide that standing still is kind of boring, so they walk around as John gives Sherlock a tour of the school.

"So, uh... anyway, welcome," he says "Oh, now that you've met Miss Wenceslas, I bet you just can't wait to sign up for that." He pointed to the notice board where the form for the audition for the musical was pinned.

"I won't be signing up for anything for a while," Sherlock says "I just wanna get to know the school, try to fit in. But if you sign up, I'd consider coming to the show. I'd love to come and hear you sing about… 'Twinkle Town'," he finishes with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah. That's completely impossible," John says but can't help laughing a bit at Sherlock's comment. And then, out of nowhere, Irene Adler appears.

"Hi, John," she says smiling "What's impossible? I wouldn't think 'impossible' is even in your vocabulary." She realised that Sherlock was there and her smile faded. "Nice of you to show our new classmate around," she adds while scanning him from head to toe.

Sherlock was doing exactly the same thing. Irene pulled a pen out of her handbag and signed her name with big letters. "Are you going to sign up too?" she asked and John didn't miss how she pulled her shirt down even more as she addressed Sherlock.

"My cousin and I have starred in all the school's productions and we really welcome newcomers," she continues "There are a lot of supporting roles in the show. I'm sure we could find something for you."

"Oh please," Sherlock says but hurries to correct himself "I mean… no thank you. You're Irene, right?"

"That's right," she flashed a bright smile at him.

"I'd best be off," Sherlock announced and walked away, leaving Irene stunned and her mouth fallen open. John felt like laughing.

 **So, that's it. Also, sorry for not posting yesterday, but I spent only ten minutes at home and hours at theatre rehearsals, so I didn't have time. I will try my best to make Saturday posting day, though :)**


	3. Chapter 3

It was time for basketball practice. The whole team was there. As they were getting onto the pitch, John approached Greg. "So, you know that school musical thing? Is it true you get extra credit just for auditioning?" he asks, trying to sound the least interested possible.

"Who cares?" Greg answers, bouncing his basketball.

"You know it's always good to get extra credit... for university..." John finds himself stumbling over his words.

"You ever think that Graham Nesbitt or Lijah Perkins auditioned for their school musical?" Greg asks and John tries to think of a good answer.

"Maybe," he says, mentally cursing himself for his dumb answer.

"John. Look, the music in those shows isn't hip hop, okay or rock, or anything essential to culture. It's like show music. It's all costumes and makeup..." Greg shivers "Oh, mate, it's frightening."

"Yeah, I know. I just thought it might be a good laugh, you know. Irene's kinda cute, too," Why did he keep coming up with stupid answers? Irene was _not_ cute!

"So is a mountain lion. But you don't pet it," Greg says and runs off with his ball.

"All right Otters! Pair up! Let's go! Come on!" John calls out to his team and they begin practice.

* * *

Meanwhile, in science class, Irene had leaned forward on her desk to talk to Sherlock, who was sitting in front of her and scribbling notes without even looking at the whiteboard.

"So," she says, jerking him out of his thoughts "it seemed like you knew John Watson."

"Not really," Sherlock said rolling his eyes and returning to his notes, not really wanting to tell her about the singing either "He was just showing me around."

Irene laughs. "Well, John doesn't usually interact with new students."

"Why not?" Sherlock asks, looking up at the board to seem busy so she might stop talking to him.

"Well, it's pretty much basketball all the time with him."

Sherlock then noticed that the teacher had made a mistake. She had written eight over pi when it should be sixteen over pi. "That should be 16 over pi..." he muttered, mostly to himself. But she heard and turned around.

"Yes, Mr. Holmes?" she asked.

"The second equation should read _sixteen_ over pi," Sherlock answers. Irene groans and stops their conversation, sitting back in her seat and turning to her notebook, where she had been drawing.

The teacher looked at her calculator and then smiled at Sherlock. "You are quite right, Mr. Holmes," she says, correcting the equation "Thank you for pointing that out."

* * *

After class, John stopped by the audition form, pen in hand. But once again, he can't find himself able to sign his name, so he leaves. He didn't know though that Jim Moriarty had been looking at him, so, when Irene came striding down the hall, her cousin stopped her.

"John Watson was looking at our audition list," he tells her.

"Again?" Irene asks and he nods.

"You know, he was hanging around with that new boy and they were both looking at the list," she informs him "There's something freaky about him. Where did he say he was from?"

When Jim doesn't answer, she grabs his arm and pulls him to the computer room. They sit down in front of a computer and she looks up 'Sherlock Holmes'.

Two articles appear. One of them is a blog titled 'The Science of Deduction'. She clicks on it. It is a blog created by none other than the new student, Sherlock Holmes, where he explains what he calls deductions, the art of observing.

They go back and read the other article, an extract from another high school's newspaper. It was about some science fair Sherlock had won his school first prize.

"Wow! An Einstein," Jim comments "So why do you think he's interested in our musical?"

"I'm not sure that he is," Irene answers "And we needn't concern ourselves with amateurs. But... there is no harm in making certain that Sherlock's welcome to school activities that are... well, appropriate for him. After all," she chuckles "He loves pi."

Jim also laughs while his cousin prints the article.

Sherlock was in Wenceslas' detention and he was most certainly not enjoying it. She made them paint sets and make costumes for her stupid musical. And to think he'd considered auditioning. Wenceslas was making rude comments about what everyone was doing.

Sherlock decided that deducing the other students in detention would be more interesting so he put down his paintbrush and fixed his eyes on someone. _Parents divorced. Lives with his father. Has one… two cats. One black, one ginger. Fancies this girl named Amanda._

"Paint, paint! Let's go!" Wenceslas orders him so he picks the paintbrush up again and starts painting the huge moon. At that moment, Molly Hooper decides to come running up to him, a huge smile on her face.

"The answer is yes!" she all but squeals in excitement.

"What?" Sherlock asks confused. He couldn't recall asking her anything. Maybe he'd deleted that memory, but it had been ages since he had to do that.

"Our scholastic decathlon team has its first competition next week, and there is certainly a spot for you," Molly explains and Sherlock sees the papers she's holding. They are the article that had made him famous in his old school, the one about the science competition his science teacher had forced him to participate in.

"Where did these come from?" he asks and pulls them out of her hand. This made Molly blush.

"Didn't you put them in my locker?" she asks, her cheeks so red she could have been confused for a poppy.

"Of course not," Sherlock snaps "I'm a new student and don't really like fame. Why on Earth would I tell the science team that I won a science competition?"

He regrets snapping, because Molly looks close to tears. "I mean," he tries to fix things "I wasn't too keen on it."

"Oh," Molly seems better now "Well, I for one would love to have you on the team. We meet almost every day after school. Please?"

"I need to catch up on the curriculum here before I think about joining any clubs," Sherlock answers and then Irene Adler decides that this is the best time to get involved in his private conversation.

"Well, what a perfect way to get caught up," she says "Meeting with the smartest kids in school. What a generous offer, Molly."

"So many new faces in detention today. I hope you don't make a habit of it, but the drama club could always use an extra hand." Wenceslas has appeared out of nowhere. Sherlock, Molly and Irene split up, each going to their job. All this time, John and Greg have been sitting in a fake tree, stapling paper leaves to its branches.

"And while we are working, let us probe the mounting evils of mobile phones. Perhaps the most heinous example of mobile phone abuse is ringing in the theatre. What temerity! The theatre is a temple of art. A precious cornucopia of creative energy," Wenceslas says.

And then, Coach Watson, John's father and the school's basketball team's coach storms in. "Where's my team, Wenceslas?" he barks at the teacher and everyone turns around to see what's going on. It only gets worse when the coach sees his players in the tree.

"What the heck are those two doing in a tree?" he demands.

"It's called crime and punishment, Watson," the teacher replies "Besides, proximity to the arts is cleansing for the soul."

"You two, in the gym, now!" the coach calls out to John and Greg, who hurry away from the tree and towards the gym.

* * *

The next day, Sherlock found himself walking with Molly Hooper who was talking to him about the decathlon. She just wouldn't stop telling him how much he had to join the team. "We've never made it past the first round of the scholastic decathlon," she says "You could be our answered prayer."

"I'm gonna focus on my studies this semester and help my brother get the new flat organized," Sherlock once again objects "Maybe next year."

"But…" Molly is not giving up.

"What do you know about John Watson?" he asks her instead.

"John?" she replies "Hmm... I wouldn't consider myself an expert on that particular sub-species, however, unless you speak cheerleader, as in" she leads Sherlock to a group of cheerleaders "Oh, my God," she squeals when they get there "Isn't John Watson just so hot?"

The cheerleaders stop everything they were doing and start talking about John. Molly pulls Sherlock away from them. "I'm a boy, so obviously I don't speak cheerleader," he tells her.

"Yeah, right, sorry," Molly answers shyly.

"Have you ever tried to get to know him?"

"Watch how it works in the canteen tomorrow when you have lunch with us."

The bell rings so they have to get to class. Sherlock decides that John must be pretty popular in this school, unlike _he_ ever was.

* * *

In Wenceslas' class, she announces about the audition for the musical. "This morning during free period will be your chance for the musical auditions, both singles and pairs," she says. Irene and Jim exchange a glance and smile. "I will be in the theatre until noon for those of you bold enough to extend the wingspan of your creative spirit," she continues.


	4. Chapter 4

**I forgot this in the last chapter. Oops, sorry. Anyway, thanks for your reviews DSCWin and crankthatphan! You guys ROCK! *kiss***

After class, John thought he might go and spy on the audition. He could maybe slip away from the team and go during free period. It was a good plan and it would have worked if Greg hadn't caught up with him.

"Hey," he says "So, um, the whole team's hitting the gym during free period. What do you want to have us run?"

"Uh, you know what, I can't make it," John answers and then says the first excuse that pops in his head "I gotta catch up on some homework."

"What?" Greg looks confused "It's only the second day back. I'm not even behind on homework yet. And I've been behind on homework since preschool."

John laughs. "That's hilarious. I'll catch you later," he says and walks away.

 _'_ _Homework? There's no way.'_ Greg thinks and follows his friend.

John realises he's being followed so he quickens his pace and walks into a classroom, joining the conversation a few kids are having. Greg is watching him and doesn't seem to be any close to giving up. He considered going to the gym anyway, but then one of his teammates appears and starts talking to Greg. Finding that this was the distraction he needed, John slips through another door.

He rushes down some stairs and then past a corridor. Just to make sure, he won't be followed he goes through the garage, behind cars and finally makes it to the auditorium.

Wenceslas is sitting behind a desk talking to a Chinese girl who had written the play. Everyone who has come to audition is on the stage, muttering the words to the songs except Irene and Jim, who seem certain they'll get the roles.

John hides behind a janitor's cart with a big mop sticking out as Wenceslas starts talking. "This is where the true expression of the artist is realized. Where inner truth is revealed through the actor's journey," she says "Those wishing to audition must understand that time is of the essence. We have many roles to cast and final call backs will be next week. First, you will sing a few bars and I will give you a sense of whether or not the theatre is your calling. Better to hear it from me now than from your friends later. Our composer, Soo Lin Yao, will accompany you and be available for rehearsals prior to call backs. Shall we?"

A girl named Kitty Riley is the first to audition. Soo Lin started playing the piano and Kitty began singing so off key that John had to cover his ears.

"It's hard to believe that I couldn't see

That you were always right beside me

This feeling's like no other

I want you to know…"

"Uh-huh. Yes, thank you," Wenceslas interrupted her and for the first time John was happy she existed "Next."

A boy named Andy Galbraith was the next one. He had written the words of the song on his hand and was trying to sing while reading them.

"It's hard to believe

That I couldn't sneeze... see

That you were always right there next to beside me…"

Irene and Jim were shocked by his mistakes. "Andy, I admire your pluck," Wenceslas told him "As to your singing... That's a wonderful tie you're wearing." Andy looked down at his red and white polka dot tie and smiled. "Next!" Wenceslas called out. Andy left the stage flashing Soo Lin a smile.

The next one to audition was a girl John had often seen Mary Morstan hang out with but didn't know himself. He only knew her name was Janine. She leaned onto the piano and started singing.

"It's hard to believe that I couldn't see

That you were"

She winked at Miss Wenceslas

"Always right beside me

This feeling's like no other

I want you to"

She winked at the teacher again

"Know…"

"Stop," Wenceslas stopped her, obviously not liking Janine's constant winking.

Laura was a student John had decided to ignore whenever he could. She seemed kind of dark. He now knew that she was also an opera singer.

"...so lonely before I finally found

What I've been looking... foooooooooooooooooooooooooor."

Irene had covered her ears, Wenceslas was trying not to do so and Soo Lin had stopped playing. "Ah... Laura. What courage to pursue a note that has not been accessed in the natural world. Bravo!" Wenceslas said and Laura smiled "Perhaps the spring musical." Laura's smile vanished and she stormed off the stage.

Isaac and Kate Witney were siblings. During their audition, Kate sang, or rather said, the words to the song while Isaac did the echoes.

"It's hard to believe that I could not see (Couldn't see)

That you were always right beside me (Beside me)

Thought I was alone (Alone)

With no one to hold (To hold)

But you were right beside me (Beside me)"

By the end they were rolling around on their knees.

"Well, that was just..." Wenceslas was trying to find words that wouldn't offend them. "Very disturbing. Go see a counsellor," she exclaims, kindness forgotten. "Next!" she barks.

Suddenly, John notices Sherlock next to him. "Hey! So you decided to sign up for something?" the black haired boy asked him.

"Uh... No," John answers "You?"

"No," Sherlock answered.

The sixth singer was someone neither of them knew, but she had terrible stage fright. Instead of singing, she froze and then ran off in tears.

"And for the lead roles of Arnold and Minnie we only have one couple signed up," Wenceslas' voice causes them to both hide behind the mop "Irene and Jim. I think it might be useful for you to give us a sense of why we gather in this hallowed hall."

Said students got up from where they were waiting and went to the stage. Soo Lin asked Jim something and what he answered didn't seem to satisfy her. Irene clicked her fingers and the curtains closed. Soo Lin sat down at the piano again. When the curtains opened again, a different music was playing. Jim began singing.

"It's hard to believe

That I couldn't see"

They sang together.

"You were always there beside me

Thought I was alone

With no one to hold

But you were always right beside me"

Irene sang next.

"This feeling's like no other"

Then they sang together again.

"I want you to know

I've never had someone that knows me like you do

The way you do

I've never had someone as good for me as you

No one like you so lonely before I finally found

What I've been looking for."

Then Irene again.

"So good to be seen

So good to be heard."

Then Jim joined her.

"Don't have to say a word."

Then she let him sing on his own.

"For so long I was lost

So good to be found."

But then she sang with him again.

"I'm loving having you around."

Then he sang alone again.

"This feeling's like no other."

Then they sang together.

"I want you to know

I've never had someone that knows me like you do

The way you do

I've never had someone as good for me as you

No one like you

So lonely before, I finally found

What I've been looking for

Doo Doo Doo Doo

Doo Doo Doo Doo

Do Do

Whoa-ah-ah-oh

Doo Doo Doo Doo

Doo Doo Doo Doo

Do Do

Whoa-ah-ah-oh."

They finished and Miss Wenceslas clapped enthusiastically. Irene shot Soo Lin a threatening look so she put on a fake smile and began clapping as well. Irene and her cousin smile and bowed to the crowd.

"Well," Miss Wenceslas says when she's done clapping "Are there any last minute sign-ups?"

No one replied. Irene was about to get off the stage when Soo Lin interrupted her. "Oh," she tells her "Actually, if you do the part with that particular song, I imagined it much slower..."

"If we do the part?" Irene interrupts her and puts on a menacing smile "Soo Lin, I've been in 17 school productions. And how many times have your compositions been selected?"

"This would be the first," Soo Lin answers defeated.

"Which tells us what?" Irene asks her and pulls some lipstick out of her handbag before applying it to her lips.

"That I need to write you more solos?" Soo Lin proposes.

"No," Irene snaps "It tells us that you do not offer direction, suggestion, or commentary. And you should be thankful that Jim and I are here to lift your music out of its current obscurity. Are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am," Soo Lin answers frightened "I mean, Irene," she corrects herself.

Irene smiles and walks past her. Soo Lin is left exactly where she had been, looking defeated and afraid.

"Any last-minute sign-ups?" Wenceslas asks again "No? Good. Done." She picks up her papers.

Then, Sherlock does something he never expected to do. He wasn't even sure what made him do it. Maybe it was that he'd liked it so much last time. "I'd like to audition, Miss Wenceslas," he said.

John's mouth fell open. What had Sherlock just done?

"Timeliness means something in the world of theatre, young man," said the drama teacher "The individual auditions are long, long over and there are simply no other pairs."

John couldn't explain what led him to do this either, but he left his hiding spot and said, "I'll sing with him."

"John Watson? Where is your sports posse or whatever it's called?" she asked.

"Team," John corrected her "But I'm here alone. Actually I came to sing with Sherlock."

"Yes, well, we take these shows very seriously here," Wenceslas didn't seem to be taking them seriously "The play's leads' names are Arnold and Minnie and not Arnold and… Mitch. If you find it funny that some men would rather go with men, you should find somewhere else to go. And even if you were serious, I called for the pairs audition, and you didn't respond. Free period is now over."

John and Sherlock looked at each other. They hadn't thought that they were both boys. And that made them think of something else. Were they attracted to boys?

John had always thought he liked girls. He found Mary Morstan pretty as well as other girls but the same went to Sherlock. As he got to know him, he began to think that he was very handsome.

Sherlock couldn't remember ever being so interested in a human being. He had thought it was like having a friend, but maybe it had been more. Maybe he liked John in more ways apart from being friends with him.

Maybe they were serious about what they were asking the drama teacher.

"We are serious," John said "But it would be a shame not to take Sherlock, he has an amazing voice."

"Perhaps the next musical," Wenceslas said "We could think of including a male and male couple in that one." With that she left the two boys still thinking of what this might mean.

Suddenly, they heard a thud. Soo Lin had tried to leave the piano and had tripped over it and fallen down, dropping her sheets. John decided to help her and Sherlock followed. They got to her and began picking up the papers. Soo Lin blushed slightly.

"So, you're a composer?" John asked her "You wrote the song Jim and Irene just sang? And the entire show?"

She nodded weakly.

"Well, that's really cool," Sherlock said, deciding to talk to her as well "I, uh, can't wait to hear the rest of the show." Which he wasn't really, but he guessed that she had been bullied by Irene Adler and felt some sympathy towards her. He offered her his hand and helped her up.

"So, why are you so afraid of Irene and Jim?" John asked "I mean, it is your show."

"It is?" the Chinese girl's eyes widened.

"Isn't the composer of a show kinda like the playmaker in basketball?"

"Playmaker?"

"You know, the one who makes everyone else look good," John explained "I mean, without you there is no show. You're the playmaker here Soo Lin."

"I am?" she asked.

John and Sherlock nodded. Irene must have told her off or something to make her feel unimportant. Poor girl.

"Do you wanna hear how the duet was supposed to sound?" she asked them and walked back to the piano.

The two boys exchanged a look. Did they? Neither of them had imagined singing again after New Year's Eve. But now here they were, wanting to audition for the school's musical. They nodded and followed her. She gave them the words and began playing.

John was the first to sing.

"It's hard to believe that I couldn't see

You were always there beside me"

Then Sherlock.

"Thought I was alone with no one to hold"

And they sung the chorus together.

"But you were always right beside me

This feelings like no other

I want you to know

That I've never had someone who knows me like you do the way you do

And I've never had someone as good for me as you

No one like you

So lonely before

I've finally found

What I've been looking for"

Sherlock, whose voice was surprisingly sweeter, even though it was deeper than John's, ended the song.

"Ohhh, ohhh."

Soo Lin stopped playing and smiled at them. They smiled at each other as well, realising that maybe they were attracted to one another.

"Watson, Holmes," they heard a voice and turned around. It was Wenceslas, "You have a call back," she told them, smiling "Soo Lin, give them the duet from the second act. Work on it with them."

Soo Lin got up and gave them the duet. "Alright," she said happily, she'd rather work with them and rewrite the play for two males than with Jim and Irene "If you guys wanna rehearse, I'm usually here during free period and after school, and even sometimes during biology class. You can come and rehearse anytime. Or you can come to my house for breakfast. I have a piano, we can rehearse there. After school, before school…"

 **If you have anything to say, anything, I'd like to hear it. ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

**So... I think we should make Sundays the update day. And sorry I missed updating again, but I was on a a school trip and didn't have my laptop with me. I had a lot of fun if any of you care :) Another shoutout to DSCWin and crankthatphan but also artistandwriter12 for their kind reviews. Love you!**

"Call back?! Aah!" Irene's scream could be heard throughout the whole corridor. She began fanning herself.

""Call back for roles next Thursday, 3:30pm. Jim Moriarty and Irene Adler, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson,"" Jim read the announcement on the notice board.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Irene said frustrated "They didn't even audition!"

The whole basketball team except for John walks by and laughs at the sight of a shocked Irene. "What's wrong?" Greg asks them and leans down to read the note. His smile fades. "What?" he exclaims. John was a singer and was going to audition for the stupid musical?

Irene groaned and she, Jim and the Otters left to go to the canteen.

"How dare they sign up? I've already picked out the colours for my dressing room," Irene said as she paced up and down.

"And they haven't even asked our permission to join the drama club," Jim agreed.

"Someone's gotta tell them the rules," his cousin said.

"Exactly," he agreed for the second time.

Irene stomped the ground with her heels and looked down the canteen's balcony.

Everyone was either talking or thinking about the basketball player and science nerd being singers. They were considering telling their friends about their secret passions as well and which way was better than with a song?

"You can bet

There's nothing but net

When I am in a zone and on a roll

But I've got a confession

My own secret obsession

And it's making me lose control."

Sebastian Wilkes sang to his basketball friends.

"Everybody gather 'round"

They answered.

"Well if John can tell his secret than I can tell mine..." Sebastian breathes and lets it out "I bake."

"What?" Greg exclaims.

"I love to bake!" Sebastian says "Strudels, scones, even apple pandowdy."

"Not another sound," his teammates demand.

"Someday I hope to make the perfect crème brûlée."

"No, no, no, nooooooooooo

No, no, no

Stick to the stuff you know

If you wanna be cool

Follow one simple rule

Don't mess with the flow, no no

Stick to the status quo."

They reply and he sits back down, disappointed that they didn't accept his special talent.

Next, it is Sarah Sawyer's, one of the science kids, turn to dare and speak.

"Look at me

And what do you see

Intelligence beyond compare

But inside I am stirring

Something strange is occurring

It's a secret I need to share."

She sings.

"Open up, dig way down deep."

They reply.

"Hip hop is my passion!" she admits and they gasp "I love to pop and lock and jam and break!"

"Is that even legal?" Louise Mortimer asks her.

"Not another peep."

The nerds return to studying.

"It's just dancing," Sarah tried to change their mind "Sometimes I think it's cooler than homework."

That's enough for them. They reply.

"No, no, no, nooooooooooo

No, no, no

Stick to the stuff you know

It is better by far

To keep things as they are

Don't mess with the flow, no no

Stick to the status quo."

Phillip Anderson, a boy who loves to skateboard starts singing.

"Listen well

I'm ready to tell

About a need that I cannot deny

Dude, there's no explanation

For this awesome sensation

But I'm ready to let it fly."

"Speak your mind and you'll be heard."

The other skaters answer.

"Alright, if John wants to be a singer, then I'm coming clean!" Phillip prepares them for what they're going to hear "I play the cello!"

"Awesome!" someone else replies.

"What is it?" a girl he'd fancied for years, Sally Donovan, asks.

Phillip can't believe she doesn't know what a cello is, she's a girl after all, so he mimes playing it.

"A song!" she tries to guess.

"No, it's like a giant violin!" he answers.

"Not another word."

His friends turn away from him.

"Do you have to wear a costume?" Sally asks.

"Coat and tie," he says, hoping that she'll think he looks handsome in one. Apparently no one does.

"No, no, no, nooooooooooo

No, no, no

Stick to the stuff you know

If you wanna be cool

Follow one simple rule

Don't mess with the flow, no no

Stick to the status quoooooooo."

Everyone starts singing now.

"No, no, no

Stick to the stuff you know

It is better by far

To keep things as they are

Don't mess with the flow, no no

Stick to the status quo."

Irene stares at everyone confessing and doesn't like it at all.

"This is not what I want

This is not what I planned

And I just gotta say

I do not understand

Something is really…"

She sings.

"Something's not right."

Jim interrupts her and she cuts him off,

"Really wrong."

She continues and then they sing together.

"And we gotta get things

Back where they belong

We can do it."

"Gotta play," Phillip Anderson says excited.

"Stick with what you know," his friends throw him his skateboard.

"We can do it."

"Hip hop hooray!" Sarah Sawyer exclaims.

"She has got to go," the nerds try to hide her from public view.

"We can do it."

"Crème brûlée," Sebastian hands the basketball boys his recipe.

"Keep your voice down low," they say and give it back to him.

"Not another peep

No, not another word

No, not another sound

No"

Everyone is singing now. "Everybody quiet!" Irene barks and every noise disappears just as Sherlock walks in trying to hide a small bottle of hydrochloric acid he nicked from the lab because he wanted to use it in an experiment in his coat. He looks up and notices everyone staring at him.

"Will you please tell these people to stop thinking?" he asks Molly "It's very annoying." Instead of a reply, everyone starts singing and Irene walks down the stairs towards him.

"Noooooooooooooo, no, no, no

Stick to the stuff you know

If you want to be cool

Follow one simple rule

Don't mess with the flow, oh no

Stick to the status quooooooooooooo

No, no, no

Stick to the stuff you know

It is better by far

To keep things as they are

Don't mess with the flow, no no

Stick to the status

Stick to the status

Stick to the status quo."

Someone pushed Sherlock and the bottle of hydrochloric acid empties on the sleeve of Irene's cotton jacket. She screams when the tip of it burns. Sherlock is about to tell her that it was very obvious that he was carrying something dangerous and that she should have been more careful, but Molly pulls him away.

Irene is still screaming when Miss Wenceslas comes in. "What is going on here?" she asks Irene.

"Look at this," she shows her the burnt sleeve of her jacket "That Holmes boy just dumped chemicals on me. On purpose! It's all part of their plan to ruin our musical. And John and his basketball robots are obviously behind it. Why do you think he auditioned? After all the hard work you've put into this show. It just doesn't seem right."

She begins to fake cry and storms away. John sees her as he enters the canteen to meet up with his friends. He shrugs. Why was she pretending to cry? He walks in only to find everyone quiet and staring at him. After a moment however, they return to their business.

"What's up?" he asks Greg.

"What's up?" he snaps "Oh, let's see... Umm, you missed free-period practice yesterday to audition for some heinous musical. And now suddenly people are... confessing."

So they knew about the audition. Oh well, it was only a matter of time anyway. But he had hoped for a different reaction. And what did Greg mean 'confessing'?

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"Sebastian," Greg answers and pulls him towards their teammate "Sebastian is baking. Crème brûlée." He spat the last two words as if they were poison.

"Ah, what's that?" John asks. This doesn't sound too bad.

"Oh," Sebastian replies excitedly "It's a creamy custard-like filling with a caramelised surface. It's really satisfying."

John was about to ask him to make him some, but Greg interrupted them.

"Shut up, Seb!" he snaps and turns back to John. "Look... do you see what's happening here?" he tries to explain "Our team is coming apart because of your singing thing. Even the drama geeks and the nerds suddenly think that they can... talk to us."

He points at Anderson. "Anderson plays the cello," he says "Suddenly people think that they can do other stuff. Stuff that is not their stuff. They've got you thinking about show tunes, when we've got a match next week." He doesn't wait for John to answer and leaves along with the rest of the team.

 **I loved writing 'Stick To The Status Quo'. I hope you liked reading it. Let me know :***


	6. Chapter 6

**So, thanks for your reviews DSCWin and crankthatphan. I hope y'all enjoy this chapter.**

Miss Wenceslas storms through the gym's changing rooms to get to the coach's office. After what Irene had told her in the canteen earlier that day, she felt like slapping him. She tried to ignore the sight of all those half-naked boys and stormed into the office.

Coach Watson was sitting behind his desk, eating a tuna sandwich and reading a newspaper. "Alright Watson," she says and slams her hands on the desk "Cards on the table right now."

"Huh?" Watson asks with a mouthful of tuna sandwich.

"You're tweaked because I put your stars in detention and now you're getting even," she was so angry. The coach was acting as if he had no idea this was going on.

"What are you talking about, Wenceslas?" he keeps acting.

"Your all-star son turned up at my audition," she explains sarcastically. Obviously he already knows. "Now, I give every student an even chance, which is a long and honourable tradition in the theatre. Something you wouldn't understand. But, if he is planning sort of a practical joke in my chapel of the arts..."

"John doesn't even sing," the coach interrupts her sounding confused.

"Oh, well," she decides to inform him "You're wrong about that. But I will not allow my Twinkle Town musical to be made into a farce."

Watson laughs and nearly chokes on his sandwich. "Twinkle Town?" he asks in between giggles.

"See? I knew it," Wenceslas exclaims. He was mocking her. She turns to leave, irritated.

"Hey," he calls to her "Good luck on Broadway!"

The teacher huffs and leaves.

* * *

Sherlock had had a long hour of Maths class. These things were all so useless for him. He had spent half the lesson deducing the teacher but when he had figured everything out, he felt like falling asleep over his notes. He opened his locker to take his Chemistry book, finally something useful, and a note fell out.

He picked it up and read it.

 _Meet me at the terrace roof before Chemistry class. I need to talk to you. JW_

John. He looked at his watch. He still had ten minutes until Chemistry. His lips twitched into a small smile and he walked over to the stairs which led to the terrace roof.

When he was finally there, he found John waiting for him.

"So this is your private hideout?" he asked him.

"Yeah," he answered "Thanks to the science club. Which means that my buddies don't even know it exists."

Sherlock smirked. "I'm sure it's tricky being the coach's son," he said. Judging by the way John held himself up, he had been playing basketball until late last night.

"Makes me practice a little harder, I guess," he answered "I don't know what he's gonna say when he finds out about the singing."

So his dad didn't know about the singing either. Had John told anyone? "You're worried?" he asked, even though he could tell he was.

John sighed. "My parents' friends are always saying, "Your son's the basketball guy. You must be so proud." Sometimes I don't wanna be the "basketball guy." I just want to be a guy. You know?" he answered.

"I saw the way you treated Soo Lin at the audition yesterday," Sherlock said. "Do your friends know that guy?"

John shakes his head. "Then they don't know enough about you," Sherlock said and felt like he could share his personal experiences with him "At my other schools I was the freak. It's cool coming here and being anyone I wanna be. When I was singing with you I just felt like... a normal boy."

Why was he suddenly sharing information with him? He'd never said that to anyone apart from Mycroft. Could it be that he felt attracted to John?

Sherlock being thought a freak was the last thing John would ever expect. The boy was a genius. But now he'd just told him that. It didn't really make sense to him.

"So, do you want to do the call backs?" Sherlock asked with a tinge of hope in his voice.

"Just call me freaky call back boy," John tries to joke. He'd never really heard Sherlock laugh, apart from maybe a small chuckle, and he wanted to make him do so.

"You're a cool guy, John," Sherlock said, trying to sound a bit like Mycroft had that day he had come home crying because his classmates had made fun of him "But not for the reasons your friends think. And thanks for showing me your top-secret hiding place. When I was young I had a pirate treehouse."

John laughed and Sherlock could only think _'Where did that come from?'_ But the bell rang and they had to get to Chemistry. They sighed and ran down the stairs to get to class on time.

* * *

Soo Lin and John were practicing the song 'Breaking Free' from the play. She played the piano while John sang. Not long after that, John was sitting in a locked classroom singing the song. He was interrupted by the sound of someone trying to get inside. He hid under a desk, but managed to see who it was, Jim.

Jim had been walking across the corridor, humming, when he thought he heard singing coming from that classroom. He tried to open the door but found it locked. He shrugged. Maybe it had only been his imagination.

Sherlock was leaning against a wall in the bathroom, singing the words to the same song. He was really into it, when he heard someone in heels coming in. Irene. What was she doing in the boys' bathroom? He quickly hid in an empty cubicle and left it only after he'd heard her leave.

Irene had been on her way to her locker to refresh her lipstick when she heard someone singing in the boys' bathroom. She felt disgusted by what she was about to do, but she pushed the door open. She looked inside, but found no one. This was stress. It was because of that Holmes boy and the basketball boy. Irritated, she left.

* * *

John ran into the gym the moment his father blew the whistle to end practice. He felt both angry and ashamed. Angry because he had missed practice again and his team would probably hate him now. Ashamed because he was the team's captain and he was letting his father down by not showing up at all.

The coach fixed his son with a death glare when he saw him. "I, uh... think I'm gonna stay a while," John said "Work on some free throws."

"Well, since you missed practice," his father tossed him a ball "I think your team deserves a little effort from you today."

John cursed as he took the ball and everyone else left, without even looking at him. He bounced the ball and then shot. It went through the hoop. "So this is your real stage," he heard the voice he most wanted to hear say.

"How did you know…" he asked.

"Oh please!" Sherlock rolled his eyes and John laughed a bit. Despite not laughing much, the boy did have quite a good sense of humour.

"Do you wanna try?" he asked handing him the ball.

"Basketball, not really my area," Sherlock said as if in thought. John shrugged and tossed the ball again.

"I've been rehearsing with Soo Lin," Sherlock keeps talking.

"Me, too," he answers "And, um, by the way, I missed practice. So if I get kicked off the team it should be on your conscience."

"Hey, I wasn't the one who told you to sing!" Sherlock sounded quite offended.

"Sherlock, chill," John said "I was only joking."

Sherlock decides to irritate John a bit and smirks. When John is distracted, he takes the ball out of his hands. "Hey, that's traveling," John says and Sherlock starts running away. "No that's really bad traveling," he says and runs after him, finally managing to grab the ball. They argue over it playfully. A whistle interrupted them and John's father walked in.

"Sir! I'm sorry," he told Sherlock "This is a closed practice."

"Dad," John said, trying to change his father's mind "Come on, practice is over."

"Not 'til the last player leaves the gym," the coach reminded him "Team rule."

"Sorry, sir." Sherlock said, trying to make a good impression to John's father. He wasn't really sorry.

"Um, dad, this is Sherlock Holmes," John introduced them.

"Ah, your detention buddy," his father answers rudely.

All traces of kindness left Sherlock's face. He let go of the ball he was still holding. "I'll see you later, John," he said "Nice meeting you, Coach Watson." He left the gym.

"Dad, detention was my fault, not his," John said, trying to control his temper. His father should know better than to go around insulting people.

"You haven't missed practice in three years," Coach Watson said "That boy shows up..."

"That _boy_ is named Sherlock. And he's very nice."

"Well, helping you miss practice doesn't make him very nice. Not in my book. Or your team's."

"Dad, he's not a problem. He's just a guy," John raised his voice.

"But you're not just a guy, John," his father shouted. He took a breath and his tone softened. "You're the team's leader. What you do effects not only this team, but the entire school. And without you completely focused, we're not gonna win next week. The championship games, they don't come along all the time. They're something special."

John looked down. He knew his dad was right, he just didn't want to accept it. "Yeah, well a lot of things are special, dad," he said quietly.

"But you're a playmaker. Not a singer, right?" his dad said.

John looked into his eyes. "Did you ever think maybe I could be both?" he asked. His father doesn't answer. He simply leaves the gym and John sees all his teammates outside. They had all heard their argument.

 **Are you excited for the next chapter? Did you like this one? Did you hate it? Either way, let me know. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Once again, thank you DSCWin and crankthatphan for your awesome reviews!**

The next day, John and Greg were in their neighbourhood's library to return some books John had borrowed. "What spell has this elevated-IQ tempter boy cast that suddenly makes you wanna be in a musical?" Greg asks him as they scanned the bookshelves for something that seemed worth reading.

"Look," John answers, getting irritated by this conversation "I just did it. Who cares?"

"Who cares?" Greg asks offended "How about your most loyal best friend?"

"Quiet in here," Miss Sorrel, the librarian said sternly.

"It's him Miss Sorrel, not me," Greg said, feigning innocence. He and John were quiet until she walked away, then kept talking.

"Look, you're a hoops person, not _a_ _musical singer_ person," Greg said "Have you ever seen Michael Crawford on a cereal box?"

"Who's Michael Crawford?" John asked.

"Exactly my point," Greg answered "He was the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Now my mum has seen that musical 27 times, and put Michael Crawford's picture in our refrigerator. Yeah, not on it, _in_ it. So my point is, if you play basketball, you're gonna end up on a cereal box. If you sing in musicals, you'll end up in my mum's refrigerator."

"Why would she put his picture in her refrigerator?" John wondered. He hadn't really paid much attention to everything else his friend had said.

"One of her crazy diet ideas. Look, I don't attempt to understand the female mind, John," he said irritated. Miss Sorrel appeared again and glared at Greg who smiled sweetly in return.

"It's frightening territory. How can you expect the rest of us to be focused on a game if you're off somewhere in leotards singing "Twinkle Town"?" he said when the librarian disappeared.

"No one said anything about leotards," John said urgently, trying to not create a fake impression. His friends already knew about the singing and that was bad enough. He didn't want them to think he also wore leotards.

"Not yet, my friend, but just you wait," Greg said and John was sure he was only saying it to scare him "Look, we need you, Captain. Big time."

"Quiet!" Miss Sorrel all but growled at them.

"I tried to tell him, Miss Sorrel," Greg said. He turned to John. "Really tried," he told him and walked away.

John sighed, picked a book and went to go and borrow it.

* * *

The science club was discussing some experiments they were going to do at the Decathlon. Molly was anxious, Sherlock had texted her twice during the week to say that he was going to miss some meetings. How were they going to get ready if the whole team wasn't there? Then, to her surprise, the entire team of the Otters walked in.

"Hey, look," Greg Lestrade told her "We need to talk."

"Umm…" Molly had never talked to any of the basketball players and didn't really know what to tell them. She looked at the others who nodded.

"Sure," she answered and they pushed them into another classroom.

From what they gathered, they were facing the same problem. John had been missing practice repeatedly the past few weeks because he was rehearsing for the musical. They had their big game soon and he was paying more attention to the musical.

But what surprised Molly, was that what the Otters proposed as a solution would solve their problem as well.

They didn't know, though, that Irene Adler and Jim Moriarty were spying on them. Luckily, or unluckily, they couldn't hear what they were saying.

"They must be trying to figure out a way to make sure John and Sherlock actually beat us out," Jim whispered to Irene "Now, the jocks rule most of the school, but if they get John into the musical, then they've conquered the entire student body."

"And if those science kids get Sherlock and John Watson to become best friends, the scholastic club goes from drool to cool," Irene sounded frightened "Jim, we need to save our show from people who don't know the difference between a Tony Award and Tony Hawk."

They both walked away, trying to think of a plan.

"Do you really think that's gonna work?" Molly asked Greg. Their plan was risky and many things could go wrong.

"It's the only way to save John and Sherlock from themselves," Greg answered "So, you in?"

Molly sighed, she really needed Sherlock on the team. "Yeah," she agreed.

"Good," Greg said "So we start tomorrow then."

"Okay, the first thing," Molly agreed. She was going to regret this, but they had no other choice.

"Nice," Greg turned to his friends "Let's go," he told them and they left.

The next day, Greg and Molly met to make sure that their watches told the same time and agree on the perfect time for their plan. Molly handed Greg the equipment he'd asked for and they were all set. All they had to do now, was wait.

* * *

John rushed down to the changing rooms. He could finally go to basketball practice, but the problem was that he couldn't find his teammates. He was desperately looking for them when something caught his eye.

All of the Otters were standing in a room, surrounding a table. On the table there were some pictures of basketball players and trophies. He looked at them, puzzled. What were they doing there?

"'Spider' Bill Netrine, class of '72," Greg said to him, holding up one of the pictures "He was the MVP in the league championship game."

"Sam Nedler, class of '02," Sebastian said, showing him another picture "Also known as 'Sammy Slamma Jamma.' Captain, MVP of the league championship team."

"The 'Thunder Clap'," Bill Wiggins said, a picture in his hands, and everyone clapped "Hap Hadden, '95. Led the Otters to back-to-back city championships. A legend."

"Yes, legends, one and all," Greg said "But do you think that any of these Otter legends became legends by getting involved in musical auditions just days before the league championships?"

"Get your head in the game!" all of the Otters said.

John could tell this would lead to something serious, it wasn't just another talk. 'Get your head in the game.' was the Otters moto and they never used it when it wasn't important. He wanted to say something, but he felt like his tongue was stuck inside his mouth.

"Now, who was the first sophomore ever to make starting varsity?" Greg asked.

"John!" the Otters all answered.

"So, who voted him our team captain this year?" Greg asked and advanced John menacingly. For the first time, the Otters' captain was afraid of his best friend.

"Us!"

"And who is gonna get their sorry butts kicked in Friday's championship game if John's worried about an audition?" Greg asked the Otters.

"We are," they answered.

"Guys, come on," John said, trying to calm them down "I mean, there's 12 people on this team, not just me."

"Just 12?" Greg laughed sarcastically "Oh, no. I think you're forgetting about one very important 13th member of our squad."

He picked up the picture of a basketball player John knew all too well.

"My dad," he said softly.

"Yes, John," Greg answered "Otter basketball champion, class of 1981. Champion, father, and now coach. It's a winning tradition like no other."

* * *

Meanwhile, Molly had pushed Sherlock into a science club meeting. They were discussing the human evolution. Molly was talking while slides were playing behind her.

"From lowly Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, to early warriors, medieval knights," she was saying "All leading up to... lunkhead basketball man." She pulled down a poster of a basketball player with John's face. Sherlock suddenly understood why they had called an urgent meeting.

"Yes, our culture worshipped the aggressor throughout the ages and we end up with spoiled, overpaid, bonehead athletes who contribute little to civilization other than slam dunks and touchdowns. That is the inevitable world of John Watson," Molly said "But the path of the mind, the path we're on, and ours is the path that has brought us these people…" She pressed a button and historical articles and pictures appeared on her laptop. "Eleanor Roosevelt, Frida Kahlo, Isaac Newton, Madame Curie, Albert Einstein, Oprah Winfrey and so many others who the world reveres," she said every name with admiration.

"Uh, okay but what time is it? You know, I've got Soo Lin waiting for me to rehearse," Sherlock wanted every excuse to get out of that classroom. He got up and was about to leave when Molly raised her voice.

"Sherlock!" she almost shouted "Sit down." Sherlock had to obey, he'd never heard Molly talk like that to anyone before.

"John Watson represents one side of evolution," she said "And our side, the side of education and accomplishment is the future of civilization! This is the side where you belong."

Sherlock sat down crumbling the edges of his coat. He didn't like them talking like that about John. John was his friend, he wasn't like the people Sherlock used to know.

* * *

"Guys, if you don't know that I'll put 110% of my guts into that game," John was saying to his teammates "Then you don't know me."

"But we just thought..." Greg started but John interrupted him.

"I'll tell you what I thought," he said "I thought that you're my friends. Win together, loose together, teammates."

Oblivious to him, the basketball players were now setting up a laptop and camera. This was what they'd been waiting for.

"But suddenly the boy... and the singing," Greg said as the camera began shooting.

"Man, I'm for the team!" John said. He was so angry he didn't even know what he was saying "I've always been for the team. He's just someone I met."

Unknown to John, the entire science club, including Sherlock, were now watching him saying this stuff.

"Alright? The singing thing is nothing," Sherlock saw John say "Probably just a way to keep my nerves down. I don't know. It means _nothing_ to me. You're my mates and this is our team. Sherlock is not important. I'll forget about him, I'll forget the audition and we'll go out and get that championship. Everyone happy now?"

"Behold lunkhead basketball man," Molly said when the transition ended.

Sherlock didn't feel or notice the small tear that escaped his eye. He'd thought he could count on John, that he was his friend. But in the end, he was just like everyone else. He'd taken advantage of him and made him believe that he was normal, that he mattered. But they had been right, he really was a freak who didn't deserve friends or to be liked.

Molly pretended she hadn't seen what she had. She put a sweet smile on her face and said "So, Sherlock, we'd love to have you for the scholastic decathlon. Do you wanna grab some lunch?"

Sherlock shook his head. "Not hungry," he said. He wanted to be alone. He wanted to go to his mind palace. Maybe that would help.

"Well, we'll be there if you wanna come," Molly offered and she and the science team left. Sherlock looked out of the window, only to see the Otters walking out of the gym carrying a smiling John on their shoulders.

Sherlock looked away and rushed out of the classroom. He didn't really know where he was going, he just kept going until he stopped. He was by his locker. He sat down, leaning against the lockers. He tried getting into his mind palace. He wanted to delete all those times John had made him feel wanted and worth something, but he couldn't. There was something stopping him.

He suddenly heard people coming. He got up and pretended he was looking for something in the locker. He almost tried to hide when he saw John coming his way, a huge smile on his face.

"Hey, how you doing?" he asked. Sherlock didn't answer. "Listen," John continued "There's something I wanna talk to you about."

Sherlock turned to face him. "And here it is," he said "I know what it's like to carry a load with your friends. I get it. You've got your teammates, John. It's okay. So we're good."

"Good about what?" John asked as if he didn't know "I was gonna talk to you about the final call backs."

"I don't wanna do the call backs either," Sherlock said "Who are we trying to kid? You've got your team and now I've got mine. I'll do the scholastic decathlon and you'll win the championships. It's where we belong." He reached into the locker, pulled out his copy of 'Breaking Free' and gave it to John. He closed the locker and walked away.

"Sherlock!" John called after him, not understanding what was going on. But his teammates caught up with him first. They, the cheerleaders and almost the entire school were now shouting, "Otters!" and the players' names.

Greg passed John the ball he was holding, but John refused it. He walked away. "What's with John?" Sebastian Wilkes asked him.

"Don't worry about it," Greg answered, even though he doubted they didn't have to worry.

* * *

Later that day, Coach Watson watched his son shooting balls and missing the hoop every single time. It wasn't that he wasn't focusing, it was that he wasn't in the right psychological state to play. What had happened?

 **But are John and Sherlock going to get back together? If you've watched the High School Musical film you know already, but that's okay! Let me know what you think.**


	8. Chapter 8

**You know the drill by now. Thanks DSCWin and crankthatphan. I think this is a good time to mention that this story is kinda AU. Or really AU depending on what you think. I wrote it a long time ago (like a VERY long time ago). You'll see what I mean.**

Greg knew something was wrong with John. He wasn't the same anymore. He noticed. Whenever he crossed paths with Sherlock, they simply stared at each other or tried to hide. They had been such good friends, it was weird to see them like this. John came to practice and did everything half-heartedly. It was their mistake, and they decided they had to fix it.

Greg spoke to Molly and she was also facing the same problem. Sherlock never spoke to anyone. He simply came to the meetings, did a couple of experiments and left. She was almost in tears as she said this, the guilt was eating her alive. They decided that the least they could do was tell the boys the truth.

Greg asked whoever he found where he could find John. Surprisingly, his answer came from the science club. He, Sebastian and Bill followed their instructions and found his friend sitting at the terrace roof all alone.

"Hey, um," Greg told him, snapping him out of his thoughts "We just had another team meeting."

"Oh," John answered and sounded like he didn't really care "Wonderful."

"We had a team meeting about how we haven't been acting like a team," Greg explained "I mean us, not you. Look, about the singing thing…"

"Look," John cut in "I don't even want to talk about it."

"We just want you to know that we're gonna be there. Okay, cheering for you."

"Huh?" John raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Sebastian answered "If singing is something you wanna do, we should be boosting you up, not tearing you down."

"Yeah," Greg agreed "Win or lose, we're teammates. That's what we're about. Even if you turn out to be the worst singer in the world."

"Which we don't know because we haven't actually heard you sing." Bill said playfully.

"And you're not gonna hear me sing, guys," John said, trying to ruin their fantasies "Because Sherlock won't even talk to me... and I don't know why."

The three basketball players exchanged a look and Sebastian pulled a plastic bag filled with cookies out of his backpack. He gave it to John, who stared at the cookies, then at Sebastian.

"We do," Greg told John.

"I baked these fresh today," Sebastian explained, pointing at the cookies "You'll probably want to try one before we tell you the rest."

John opened the bag and pulled out a cookie. He bit on it as if he was expecting it to be poisoned. To his surprise, it was actually pretty good. But he really did need it to be prepared for what he was about to hear.

* * *

Molly walked into the lab, followed by Jacqui Stapleton and Ella Thompson. Sherlock was doing some experiment. She took a deep breath and walked over to his bench. She cleared her throat, hoping to get a reaction. When she didn't, she just started talking.

"Sherlock, we were idiots," she said and he looked up "No, we were worse than idiots because we were mean idiots. We thought John and the whole singing thing was killing our chances of having you on the scholastic decathlon team."

"I heard what he had to say," he answered stubbornly "I'm on your team now. Done. And I already knew you were idiots, by the way."

Molly chose to ignore the last comment. "No, not done," she said "We knew that Greg could get John to say things to make you want to forget about the call backs. We planned it, and we're embarrassed and sorry."

"No one forced John to say anything," Sherlock answered, even more stubbornly "And you know what? It's okay. We should be preparing for the decathlon now, so it's time to move on."

"No, it's not okay," Molly said, becoming frustrated by his stubbornness "The decathlon is whatever, but how you feel about us, and even more, John, that's what really matters."

Sherlock rolled his eyes and turned back to his experiment. Molly bit her lip and she, Jacqui and Ella turned to leave. "We tried," she whispered to them.

* * *

What his teammates had told him had certainly effected John. At first he had been so angry. But then, his only concern was to make sure Sherlock also knew the truth. The boys told him that Molly would tell him.

However, he saw Molly in the canteen. She was crying and her friend Jacqui was comforting her. When he asked what was wrong, she turned bright red. But then she explained everything to him. She said that they had told Sherlock the truth, but he refused to believe them. She said she felt so bad for agreeing to do this. John felt sorry for her.

To make her feel better, he promised her that he would try and talk to Sherlock himself. He would soon regret promising that, remembering just how stubborn he was. But a promise was a promise, and he felt like he really had to talk to him anyway.

That was on Friday. It was Sunday now. He decided he had to do something, so he left the house and made his way towards Baker Street. Sherlock had told him that his flat's address was 221B, Baker Street. It was easy so far. He would simply knock on the door, ask to talk to Sherlock, talk to him and he was done. Easy.

First step, knock on the door. He knocked on it. An old lady opened it. John could hear the sound of a violin playing a slow sad tune coming from inside. "Hello, dear," The lady said, smiling sweetly. Sherlock's mother? Possible. She didn't look like him, though.

"Hi, Mrs Holmes, I'm John Watson," he introduced herself.

"Mrs Holmes?" the lady laughed "I believe you are mistaken, young man. I'm not Mrs Holmes. She and her husband died in that horrible car crash all those years ago. But you seem to be around Sherlock's age. Are you his friend? I'm Mrs Hudson, his landlady, not his housekeeper, as I often have to remind him."

John felt as though his mouth would fall open. Sherlock's parents were dead? Why had he never told him? Then again, Sherlock hardly ever talked about his family.

"John Watson," she muttered "I believe I've heard that name before."

"I'm here to see Sherlock Holmes," John explained.

"Sherlock!" Mrs Hudson called up the stairs "There's a young man here who wants to see you."

John heard footsteps coming down the stairs. But it wasn't Sherlock. It was a man around his twenties. He had dark brown hair and was about the same height as Sherlock. He studied John like Sherlock did when he met new people.

"You are?" he asked him.

"John Watson," John answered.

The man stared at him again. "I see," he finally said "Sherlock is quite busy with homework and such, so now's not really a good time."

"I made a mistake, Mr. Holmes," John said desperately. This person must be Sherlock's brother. He matched Sherlock's description of him. "And I would really like to let Sherlock know that. Could you tell him that I came by to see him?"

Sherlock's brother considered this for a moment. "I will... John," he said "Good night."

"Good night. Thank you," John said.

"Would you like a cup of tea, Mycroft?" Mrs Hudson asked Sherlock's brother as John turned to leave "But only this once, I'm not your housekeeper."

"Of course, Mrs Hudson," Mycroft answered.

"How is he?" Mrs Hudson whispered as she closed the door to her flat.

John felt like he needed to know the answer. He pressed his ear against the door to hear Mycroft's reply. "…Not well," he caught "He keeps writing sad music, I can't get him to eat and he never talks. I haven't seen him like this since…"

John didn't want to hear anymore. He went outside and closed the door. He guessed that the window he could see from the road must lead to Sherlock's flat. He focused on it and pulled out his phone. He quickly texted Sherlock, he knew he preferred texting to talking.

 **What you heard, none of that is true. I was sick of my friends annoying me about singing with you, so I said things I knew would shut them up. I didn't mean any of it. JW**

He stood, waiting for a reply. He could hear Sherlock playing his violin. And then he stopped. Soon, John's phone buzzed.

 **You sounded pretty convincing to me. SH**

Determined to fix this mess, John texted back.

 **Look, the guy you met during the holidays is way more me than the guy who said those stupid things. JW**

 **John, the whole singing thing is making the school whack. You said so yourself. Everyone's treating you differently because of it. SH**

 **Maybe because I don't want to only be the basketball guy. They can't handle it. That's not my problem, it's theirs. JW**

 **What about your father? SH**

 **And it's not about my dad. This is about how I feel, and I'm not letting the team down. They let me down. So I'm gonna sing. What about you? JW**

Sherlock took a while to answer that one. John was beginning to think he wouldn't when the reply came.

 **I don't know, John. SH**

 **Well, you need to say yes. Because I brought you something. JW**

 **What do you mean? SH**

John put his phone in his pocket. He looked up to the window. It was pretty high up. But he hadn't climbed all these trees when was younger for nothing. He began climbing. Passers-by would definitely think he was crazy if they saw him. He heard Sherlock start playing again.

Finally, he reached the small balcony. He jumped in and looked through the window. Sherlock was standing, his back turned to him. John saw his phone on the couch, where he'd probably thrown it thinking that John wouldn't text him back. John took his phone out of his pocket and texted him.

 **Turn around. JW**

Sherlock heard his phone vibrate. He put the violin down and picked it up. He read the text and turned around. John Watson was standing on his balcony. Mycroft was going to kill him. He quickly opened the window, but didn't say anything.

John could see what Sherlock's brother had meant. He didn't look well. He was pale and there were dark circles under his eyes. But he didn't comment on it. He had thought of something as he was coming and it was a good idea. He started singing.

"This could be the start of something new

It feels so right to be here with you

Oh

And now looking in your eyes

I feel in my heart

The start of something new."

He put his hand in his jacket's pocket and pulled out Sherlock's copy of 'Breaking Free'. He gave it to him. "It's a pair's audition," he said smiling. Sherlock took it and for the first time he smiled a real smile. It wasn't like the ones he smiled at school, it came from inside him. To John, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

They stared at each other for a few moments. So many things were going through both their minds. Sherlock suddenly realised that Mycroft would be back soon. He snapped out of his thoughts. "You need to go," he told John "My brother will be back soon and he'll kill me if he sees someone has entered the flat through the window." He couldn't help but keep smiling as he said all that.

"I met your brother," John said "He seems so serious."

Sherlock's smile faded. "Yeah well," he said and shrugged "He's been like this for a while now."

John nodded. He wished he didn't understand what Sherlock was talking about. But he understood now. He wondered if he should tell him. He didn't like that he knew something about Sherlock that Sherlock didn't want him to know.

But Sherlock's deductions never failed him. He could tell by the look on John's face what he was thinking about. He'd wished he could have told him himself when he'd felt comfortable doing so.

"Who told you?" he finally asked.

John sighed, Sherlock knew that he knew. "Your landlady," he answered. Sherlock nodded and looked down. John felt sorry for him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked him.

"Why is it that people think it will help if you talk about something traumatic?" Sherlock asked, annoyed. Many people had asked him the same question and he'd always denied it.

"Because it does, Sherlock," John answered.

Sherlock opened his mouth to answer but they heard footsteps. Mycroft. "Out the window," Sherlock whispered and pushed John towards the balcony.

The same way he came in, John went out. The last thing he saw before leaving the Holmes' flat, were the papers on Sherlock's stand. It was a music piece with the title 'John Watson'. He didn't have much time to wonder why Sherlock had been writing sad music about him because he had to jump out the window and climb down the wall.

 **I think you understood what I meant when I said this was AU. Sorry if you don't like it anymore :(**


	9. Chapter 9

Coach Watson noticed the huge change in his son. Ever since Sunday afternoon, John had improved wonderfully. He didn't even know what had been wrong with him before, but he was glad to have the old John back. He scored more points than he ever had in the team's next practice.

Sherlock had taken to tutoring the other members of the science team. They had been so impressed by him that they came to him with any questions or difficulties they were facing. He'd even gotten slightly friendlier to them, but old habits die last. He still called them idiots some times.

"Zn4, and by doing that, you end up with two... and two," he said to Ella Thompson "Got it?"

Ella wrote it down. "Yes," she answered.

Molly was so happy. She'd been trying to explain this to Ella for a month and had managed nothing. And Sherlock had done it in a matter of minutes. She high fived Ella and smiled at Sherlock who put down the marker he had been using to write on the whiteboard down.

* * *

John looked at his watch. It was time for his rehearsal with Soo Lin. He scored another point and mimed timeout to Greg. Greg nodded and motioned towards the direction of the door with his head. John ran out the gym as his father stared at them with a puzzled look.

"Come here. Go ahead and put five grams of this in," Sherlock showed the science team an experiment. He pointed to a substance which was on the bench. "And that causes it to change from an acidic state," he explained "Causing the colour to change from pink to blue. Just like those pH test strips. Oh, gotta go," he added when he saw the time. He took off his goggles and apron and rushed out.

He and John met in the hallway. "We're late," John teased him as they ran off to meet Soo Lin.

* * *

Irene and Jim were walking through the hallway when they heard it. Two voices singing from inside a classroom. And it wasn't just any song they were singing. It was a song from their musical. And they weren't just any voices, they were both male. It could only be Holmes and Watson.

"If we're trying

Yeah, we're breaking free"

Irene gasped. "Wow. They sound good," Jim said. He wasn't helping at all. She looked into the classroom's window and saw them singing while the little Chinese girl was playing the piano, smiling.

"We have to do something," she said. She couldn't bear to not star in the musical. "Okay, our call backs on Thursday and the basketball game and the scholastic decathlon are on Friday," an evil thought struck her when she said this "Too bad all these events weren't happening on the same day... at the same time."

"Well," Jim answered, not quite getting it "That wouldn't work out because then John and Sherlock wouldn't be able to make the..." He then realised what Irene meant and smirked. "I'm proud to call you my cousin." he told her.

"I know," Irene replied and strode off proudly. Jim followed her to the auditorium.

* * *

Soo Lin was rearranging her papers. She was so satisfied by today's rehearsal. If Sherlock and John sang like this at the audition, they would definitely get the roles. She heard the door open and hid herself behind the piano. Good thing she did because Miss Wenceslas, Jim Moriarty and Irene Adler walked in.

"I don't want to hear about John Watson and that Holmes boy," Wenceslas was saying "So, if you're telling me as co-presidents of the drama club that changing the call backs would be what's best for our theatre program, then I might actually agree with you."

Soo Lin gasped before she could stop herself. Irene and Jim wouldn't propose something like this unless they were trying to sabotage Sherlock and John's audition. Wenceslas looked around to find the source of the noise. Deciding that it had merely been her imagination, she walked away.

"Is that a yes?" Jim asked Irene.

Irene shrugged and left singing the song they would be singing for the call backs.

"Bop bop bop, up to the top

And wipe away your inhibitions

Stomp, stomp, stomp

Do the romp and strut your stuff

Bop bop bop, straight to the top..."

When she was sure she was alone again, Soo Lin sighed in defeat.

* * *

Sure enough, the next morning a new note appeared on the notice board. Soo Lin read it three times to make sure it was really there. She heard the doors open and the voices of John, Sherlock, Greg Lestrade, Molly Hooper and some others she didn't know. She prepared herself to explain the situation to them.

"No problem at all," Greg was saying "It was crazy, mate."

"Hey, what's wrong?" John asked when he saw the look on Soo Lin's face. He walked over to her. She was staring at the notice board. He looked at it and realised why she looked like this. There was a new note on it.

 _'_ _CALL BACK AUDITIONS RESCHEDULED TO FRIDAY BEGINNING AT 3:30 PM'_ it read.

"Call back's the same time as the game?" he wondered. It wasn't like that when he last looked. By then, everyone else had gathered around them.

"And the scholastic decathlon," Sherlock added.

"Why would they do that?" John asked.

"I smell a rat named Wenceslas," Greg answered.

"I actually think it's two rats," Soo Lin said, speaking to the basketball player for the first time "Neither of them named Wenceslas."

"Do you know something about this small person?" Greg asked her.

Soo Lin turned to John. "Miss Wenceslas might think that she's protecting the show," she told him "But Irene and Jim are pretty much only concerned with protecting themselves."

"Do you know what I'm gonna do to those two show dogs?" Greg exclaimed angrily.

"Nothing," John answered to him, trying to calm him down, they wouldn't achieve anything by being angry. "We're not gonna do anything to them. Except sing, maybe. All right, now this is only gonna happen if we all work together. Now who's in?" He held out his hand.

Greg stared at the rest of the Otters. They had promised John that they would support him, whatever he decided to do. What Irene and Jim were doing was unfair and they had to do something, something clever. They put their hands over John's.

Sherlock was prepared to do anything to sing with John. He had decided that that was what he wanted. He wasn't going to make the same mistakes. He had allowed others to push him around, preventing him from following his dreams, and he wasn't going to do it again. This time, he was going to do what _he_ wanted to do. He put his hand over everyone else's.

Soo Lin knew that John and Sherlock deserved those roles more than anyone else on the drama club. They were talented and they had amazing chemistry. She could tell, though, it was more than a friendship that they shared. Someday they might discover it and she hoped that through this play they would. She was going to do this for the play, but also for the boys. She placed her hand over Sherlock's.

Molly needed Sherlock on her team. He was easily the smartest person she had ever met. But through getting to know him, she grew to like him for more things than his brain. She hoped that he would notice her, if it didn't work out with John. She knew how important the singing was to him. She wanted to win the decathlon, but she also wanted Sherlock to be happy, no matter what it took. She put her hand over Soo Lin's and the rest of the science club copied her.

They all exchanged a look. They would all have to work together to think of something. It was definitely going to be risky, but they had to risk it. It could be dangerous, but who doesn't love a bit of danger some times? Yes, this was going to work.

 **I had a bad day. Make me happier :))**


	10. Chapter 10

**Let me start off by thanking you DSCWin and crankthatphan for your encouragement and support over the past few days. They were a hard time for me and I was glad to have you guys, so I will love you forever! Also a huge thanks to DSCWin, crankthatphan, ScldHeart and quilandbellaforever for their wonderful reviews!**

The big day had arrived. John was super anxious, and it wasn't only because of the game. They had come up with a plan, the Otters, Soo Lin and the science club, and all that was left was to put it into action. But for now, they just had to pretend that they weren't planning anything.

John spent an hour in front of his wardrobe, trying to find his basketball shoes, only to realise that he was already wearing them. He had to fight the urge to skip all classes and run to the gym to practice his moves. He could see that Greg was bouncing a ball under his desk. They had already lost a match from the Princes (dumb name for a basketball team by the way) and they didn't want to make them two.

For the first time in his life, Sherlock found that he couldn't pay attention in chemistry class. He had the notes he'd scribbled last night in his hands and kept rereading them. Mycroft had told him he needed to sleep, but he just couldn't. He'd spent the whole night writing everything he knew again and again.

When Mrs Hudson had come up to say good morning, he'd accidently snapped at her and deduced out loud about her and the owner of 'Speedy's cafe'. She'd been deeply offended, of course, but Mycroft managed to calm her down by explaining his brother's anxiety. She had then decided to ask the worst question imaginable. "Didn't a good night's sleep help?"

When classes were over, it was finally time. The Otters had a surprise for the science club. They led them to a lab where they presented them with a pie in the shape of the symbol π. "A pi pie," Sebastian announced, proud of his creation.

"Oh my goodness!" Molly exclaimed. She was almost in tears of joy.

"Oh my!" Jacqui Stapleton said at the same time.

"Thank you! Oh, we have something for you, too," Molly said.

"Yeah, come here, look," Sherlock added.

The Otters shrugged and followed them. The two scientists led them to the whiteboard where they had drawn a little man holding a ball and a hoop. All around them, was a formula for the man to get the ball through the hoop. The Otters' faces fell.

"Oh... it's an equation," John said, pretending to sound excited.

Molly and Sherlock smirked as they turned the board around. On the other side of the board they had drawn an Otter dressed in St Bart's High School colours throwing a ball through a basketball hoop with the caption "GO OTTERS!"

"Oh!" the basketball team exclaimed and they hugged the science kids.

Everyone, even the drama club and Miss Wenceslas, had come by the changing rooms to wish the Otters good luck. "Stay right there," Greg positioned Irene "Watch."

"From our team, to yours," John said.

Seven members of the team stood on a bench while the others stood underneath them. Then, one by one, they unzipped their jackets to reveal their T-shirts which each had a letter on them. Eventually they spelled out the words 'GO DRAMA CLUB!'

"Well," Wenceslas said "Seems we Otters are in for an interesting afternoon."

The bell rang and students from every classroom along the hall filled the empty corridor, all heading to the Otters' game.

* * *

The gym was filled to the brim with spectators as the cheerleaders did a routine. The game was about to begin. In the locker room, Coach Watson decide to go have a word with John.

"How you feeling?" he asked him.

"Nervous," John answered.

"Yeah," his father agreed "Me too. Wish I could suit up and play beside you."

"Hey," John smiled at him "You had your turn."

"You know what I want from you today?" Coach Watson asked.

"The championship," John answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well," the coach told him "That'll come or it won't. What I want is for you to have fun. I know all about the pressure. And probably too much of it has come from me. What I really want is to see my son having the time of his life playing the game we both love. You give me that, and I will sleep with a smile on my face no matter how the score comes out."

John couldn't believe his father was saying this. He had always told him that they had to win, but now he was saying that that wasn't so important to him. They hugged. "Mum and Harry have come too," the Coach said.

"Well," John answered, smiling "We'd better show them what a great team we make."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the scholastic decathlon, the teams have taken place. Sherlock saw Mycroft taking a seat in the crowd and gulped. He hadn't expected him to come.

The announcer took a microphone to announce the beginning. "Welcome to the tenth annual Scholastic Decathlon," he said "The Otters versus the Princes." Each team began clapping when they were announced.

At the call backs, Miss Wenceslas was showing people their seats. Soo Lin had opened the piano and was practicing her song. Backstage, Irene and Jim were doing pre-show practice.

"Mah, mah, mah!" they were saying. Then, they began speaking gibberish.

"Stop!" Irene ordered her cousin and he stopped. She turned her back at him and fell backwards. He caught her in his arms. She got up and put her hands on his shoulders. "I trust you," she announced.

"Energy," Jim said.

* * *

"And now introducing your Otters!"

The Otters ran into the gym. The audience from their school began cheering and clapping. "Otters! Otters! Here we go!" the cheerleaders sang as they formed a pyramid.

"Let's go! Go!" Coach Watson encouraged them. The basketball players began throwing balls to each other for practice.

* * *

"Casting the leads of a show is both a challenge and a responsibility," Miss Wenceslas was saying to the small crowd that had come to watch the audition "A joy and a burden. I commend you and all other young artists to hold out for the moon, the sun, and the stars."

The audience and Soo Lin applauded. Wenceslas held her hand out to Soo Lin. "Shall we soar together?" she said. Soo Lin took her hand and someone took a picture of them. "Irene and Jim," the teacher announced.

On que, Jim slid onto the stage wearing a white shirt, black trousers and a black hat.

"Mucho gusto"

He sang.

As a reply, Irene slid from the other side of the stage. She was wearing a blue dress with a long frilly skirt.

"Ay, que fabulosa!"

She sang.

They danced while saying Spanish for a while. Soo Lin had to fight the urge to slam her head on the piano's keys. What were they doing to her song?

Finally, Irene started singing.

"I believe in dreaming

And shooting for the stars."

Then Jim sang.

"Baby to be number one

You got to raise the bar."

Then Irene again.

"Kicking and the scratching

Grinding out my best."

Then Jim.

"Anything it takes to climb

The ladder of success."

Irene joined in and they sang together.

"Work our tails off everyday

Gotta bump the competition

Blow them all away."

Then Irene had a solo.

"Yeah we're gonna."

Before Jim joined her to sing the chorus.

"Bop bop bop, bop to the top."

But then Jim sang on his own again.

"Slip and slide and ride that rhythm."

Then both of them.

"Jump and hop

Hop 'til we drop

Zip zap zop hop, walk like a mop."

Then Jim.

"Scoot around the corner."

Then both again.

"Move it to the groove

'til the music stops

Do the bop bop bop

To the top

Don't ever stop

Bop to the top

Gimme gimme

Shimmy shimmy

Shake some booty and turn around

Flash a smile in their direction"

Then they switched, each having a line, beginning with Irene.

"Show some muscle

Do the hustle

Yeah we're gonna."

Then the chorus again.

"Bop bop bop, bop to the top

Wipe away your inhibitions

Stump stump stump, do the rump

And start your stuff

Bop bop bop, straight to the top

Going for the glory."

Jim sang a solo line.

"We'll keep stepping up and we just won't stop."

A golden ladder appeared in the backstage and they began climbing it.

"'Til we reach the top!

Bop to the top!"

They finished by posing on the ladder. Soo Lin forced herself to clap along with the audience.

* * *

Sherlock had been writing the equation he had been asked to write. His hand was moving faster than he'd ever thought it could. He didn't even look at his opponent to see how he was going. He was trying to focus only on that. Finally, he was done. The whiteboard was full. He ran to the little bell and rung it.

The boy from the other school stopped writing and the judge stepped over to see his answer. He spent a while reading the equation and Sherlock found himself biting his lip with anxiety. He knew it was right, but he was still very anxious. At last, the judge turned around and pointed at the Otters' half, giving them the point.

Molly was screaming with excitement. Sherlock saw Mycroft's lips twitch into one of his rare smiles. He seemed proud of him. He smiled back and went to join his team. Molly pulled him into a hug and they sat back down.

"Divorced," he whispered to her.

"What?" she whispered back as she turned her laptop on.

"The judge who checked my equation is divorced," he repeated, still whispering "You can tell by…"

"Sorry, I'm not interested right now," Molly answered and began typing something "All right, Otters, time for an orderly exit from the gym."

She transmitted a message and shut down the laptop. She nodded at Sherlock.

* * *

At the gym, the match was going great. The Otters were winning. John felt so happy. His father had been smiling ever since they scored their first points. Even his sister, Harry, who hated him had come to watch them play.

The two siblings had never been on very friendly terms. No one really knew how it all started. Harry was the oldest. She just hadn't given John the support he needed from her and maybe that was what had created their rivalry. To see her somewhere because of John was something rare.

Suddenly, the lights and the score board started going crazy. This was it. Everyone was wondering what was going on. "We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties," the announcer said.

The referee blew his whistle, signalling a timeout.

"We've got a timeout on the court here," said the announcer.

Greg motioned to John to get going and John began running away from the game. Coach Watson saw his son leaving and wondered what this was all about.

"Everyone please remain calm," the announcer was trying to calm everyone.

Soon after John left, another announcement was made. "We'll get this figured out real soon. In the meantime, per safety regulations, we need to all make an orderly exit from the gym, please." The Otters got together and headed to the auditorium.

* * *

Turning off the power at the gym was the easy part of the plan for the science kids. The diversion they had in mind was far more complicated and difficult. But it seemed to be going well. There was a beaker with a blue liquid near them. Molly sent the signal. Suddenly, the liquid began giving away a foul odour.

The people began to try and keep the smell away from them, unsuccessfully. They opened the door and went outside. Once they were out of the room, Molly urged Sherlock to leave. "Go, go, go, go," she ordered him. Sherlock nodded and ran off. Mycroft was out in time to see his brother running away. He'd noticed Sherlock had something else on his mind that day, could that be the reason this happened?

Molly knew it would take them a while to get this thing under control. She gathered her team and they left to go watch the audition. She really wanted to hear Sherlock and John sing.

 **I hope the boys go well. Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for your reviews DSCWin, crankthatphan and quilandbellaforever despite me being a horrible person and not notifying you on time. Again, sorry about that. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

Irene and Jim had just finished their song. Everyone was clapping. Irene curtseyed and Soo Lin rolled her eyes at her. The two singers left the stage smiling triumphantly.

"Do you see why we love the theatre, people?" Miss Wenceslas said as she walked onto the stage "Well done. Ah, John Watson, Sherlock Holmes," she called out.

There was silence. Soo Lin was scared now. Could it be that the plan hadn't worked and Sherlock and John wouldn't be able to make it? Miss Wenceslas wasn't going to do any more auditions. It was already obvious that she wanted Irene and Jim to star in the play, she wouldn't give the boys a second chance.

"John? Sherlock?" she repeated. Again nothing.

"They'll be here," Soo Lin said. She had decided she had to do something.

"The theatre, as I have often pointed out, waits for no one," Wenceslas told her "I'm sorry."

Soo Lin looked like she might cry. She ran away.

"Well, we are done here," Wenceslas announced, ignoring the fact that Soo Lin had left "Congratulations to all. The cast list will be posted..."

"Wait!" a voice called out. Wenceslas looked up. John and Sherlock had arrived.

"Miss Wenceslas, wait!" John called out as he and Sherlock ran towards the stage "We're ready, we can sing."

Wenceslas looked them over. They didn't seem ready. John was wearing his basketball clothes and was sweaty. Sherlock was wearing a white lab robe over his suit.

"I called your names, twice," she told them.

"Miss Wenceslas, please!" Sherlock begged her. "Please!" Sherlock never begged anyone for anything.

"Rules are rules!" Wenceslas insisted.

She was about to leave them, when a huge crowd of basketball players and scientists walked in and sat down. They were followed by the rest of the school. Irene, hearing the noise, walked back onto the stage. She smiled, eager to perform for such a big audience. "We'll be happy to do it again for our fellow students, Miss Wenceslas," she told the teacher.

"I don't know what's going on here," Wenceslas said confused "But in any event, it's far too late and we have not got a pianist."

"Well, that's show biz," Jim, who had suddenly appeared by his cousin, said.

"We'll sing without a piano," John said, refusing to give up now.

"Oh, no, you won't," They turned around to see that Soo Lin had returned. "Pianist here, Miss Wenceslas," she said.

"You really don't wanna do that," Irene told the girl threateningly.

"Oh, yes," Soo Lin said without sounding afraid at all "I really do. Ready on stage."

A look of shock appeared on Irene's face as she stood up to her. She hadn't expected that at all.

"Now _that's_ show biz," Miss Wenceslas told her.

Irene, angry and not able to believe this was actually happening, stormed off the stage. They ignored her, however. Sherlock took off his lab robe and John handed him a microphone. "I could have done that myself," Sherlock said teasingly making John smile. Soo Lin started playing.

John started singing.

"We're soaring, flying

There's not a star in heaven

That we can't reach"

Sherlock continued.

"If we're trying

So we're breaking free"

Then John sang again.

"You know the world can see us

In a way that's different than who we are"

Then Sherlock again.

"Creating space between us

'Til we're separate hearts"

They both sung the chorus together.

"But your faith it gives me strength

Strength to believe

We're breaking free

We're soaring

Flying

There's not a star in heaven

That we can't reach."

Then John sang a line on his own.

"If we're trying."

And then Sherlock sang with him again.

"Yeah, we're breaking free

Oh, we're breaking free

Ohhh."

John had a solo after the first chorus.

"Can you feel it building

Like a wave the ocean just can't control?"

And then Sherlock had one too.

"Connected by a feeling

Ohhh, in our very souls."

Then they sang together.

"Rising 'til it lifts us up

So everyone can see."

Then John sang.

"We're breaking free."

Then the second chorus began.

"We're soaring

Flying

There's not a star in heaven

That we can't reach."

Sherlock stopped and John sang.

"If we're trying

Yeah we're breaking free."

And then Sherlock.

"Ohhh running."

Then John again.

"Climbing

To get to that place."

Sherlock joined in.

"To be all that we can be."

Then he stopped so that John could continue on his own.

"Now's the time."

Then both again.

"So we're breaking free."

Then Sherlock again.

"Ohhh, yeah."

John after him.

"More than hope

More than faith."

And then back to Sherlock.

"This is true

This is fate

And together."

And both.

"We see it coming."

Then they sang some lines each.

"More than you

More than me

Not a want, but a need

Both of us breaking free

Soaring

Flying."

And then another chorus.

"There's not a star in heaven

That we can't reach

If we're trying

Yeah we're breaking free

Breaking free

We're running

Ohhh, climbing

To get to the place

To be all that we can be

Now's the time."

John repeated the last words.

"Now's the time."

Sherlock sang again.

"So we're breaking free."

Then John.

"Ohhh, we're breaking free."

Then Sherlock.

"Ohhh."

They looked at each other and finished the song together.

"You know the world can see us

In a way that's different than who we are."

The auditorium erupted into clapping and cheering. Near the end of the song, Coach Watson had come, looking for his team. John really _could_ sing. And he seemed like he really enjoyed singing with that boy. He smiled. Mycroft walked in at the same time as the Coach. The only time he'd heard his brother sing was when he'd been in the school choir. He'd never heard him sing like this. He smiled fondly. Sherlock seemed happier than he had in a long while.

"Whoo!" Molly called out. Cheers of 'That's amazing!' and 'Amazing, yeah!' followed.

John and Sherlock exchanged a look and Sherlock smiled his second real smile to him. John had realised that he liked him a while ago. He couldn't not tell him now. He walked over to him and kissed his cheek. The students stared at them while the Coach and Mycroft's mouths fell open, not expecting this at all.

Sherlock looked at John. He smiled even brighter and they kissed.

 **And so all our gay wishes came true! *insert rainbow because I couldn't find the emoji* Let me know how much you squealed with excitement. Or how much you didn't. I did while writing it ^^**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday, but there was this huge storm with lightning and everything going on and I didn't want my laptop to blow up.**

 **Also, I'm so so so so so SO happy BTS won an award at the BBMAs! In case you don't know who they are, BTS is a k-pop group of seven members that my sister is obsessed with. They were the first k-pop group to ever be nominated and win a Billboard Music Award. Even though the music in their songs isn't really my style (I prefer Led Zeppelin, Metallica, David Bowie, The Smiths and My Chemical Romance) I can tell when someone is talented and deserves an award. Their voices are amazing, their dancing is incredible and their lyrics are absolutely beautiful, much better than all these American songs which are just about sex and money** **. These boys work so hard and it's obvious that they're extremely passionate about what they do and have the nicest relationship.** **Give their music a chance if you're curious, and even if you don't enjoy it so much, like me, you can still love their adorable personalities and stunning looks ;)**

 **Anyway, now that that's over, shoutout to DSCWin, . , crankthatphan, quilandbellaforever and WelcomeToTheAsylum for your reviews. Every time I see so many people review, it makes me so happy so thank you guys! I love you!**

"And Otters are pushing the ball. Fast break. Looking for an open man. Oh, but it's stolen by number 14, Watson, heading back the other way! The Otters have the ball! Time is running down on the clock! Looking for an open man. Fake. Swing to the outside. Ball on the perimeter. Look for a man on the inside. Nice screen. Shot's up! And it's good! A 12-foot jump shot as time expires for the victory! The Otters have won the championship! Your Otters are champions! Congratulations, Otters!"

"John! John! John!" the crowd chanted.

The basketball players lifted John onto their shoulders. Coach Watson took the trophy and handed it to his son, who lifted it proudly. Everyone was cheering excitedly as the Princes left the gym defeated. Greg took John's hand as they lowered him and then ran up to the crowd.

"What team?" he called out to them.

"Otters!" they called back.

"What team?" Greg called again.

"Otters!" they repeated.

"What team?" Greg called out.

"Otters!" they answered

"Otters!" Greg said.

"Get your head in the game!" everyone called.

Coach Watson rushed over to his son, followed by his wife and daughter. He hugged him tightly. "I'm proud of you, son!" he said. John smiled at him and allowed his mother to hug him as well. Then, Harry held her hand out to him. "You were really good out there," she told him, smiling weakly, as he shook her hand friendlily.

Then, Sherlock appeared. He wasn't wearing his robe anymore and was looking for John. John gave Harry's hand one last shake and left to go meet him. "Congratulations, Otter!" Sherlock said when he saw him next to him. Meanwhile, Miss Wenceslas was congratulating Coach Watson for his victory.

"What about your team?" John asked.

"We won too!" Sherlock announced happily. John moved to kiss him, but Greg ruined it by appearing and jumping between them. "Team voted you the game ball, Captain!" he said.

"Yeah, thank you. Thanks a lot," John said, slightly annoyed that he lost his chance.

Irene, to everyone's disbelief, walked over to Sherlock smiling. "Break a leg," she told him. Sherlock raised an eyebrow. It was bad enough that he would have to put up with her now, why was she wishing him bad luck? "In theatre that means good luck," Irene explained.

"Oh," Sherlock said "Anyway, how are things going with your mum? Did you get over that fight?"

"Huh?" Irene asked. How did he know that? Sherlock prepared to explain his deductions but changed his mind. "Forget it," he told her and went to find John or his brother.

Irene was brought out of her thoughts by Sebastian Wilkes. "Hey, Irene," he told her "I'm sorry you didn't get the lead, but I think that you're really good. I admire you so much."

"And why wouldn't you?" Irene answered "Now, bye-bye."

"Oh, wait," Sebastian said pulling out a bag of chocolate chip cookies "I baked you some cookies."

"Ew," Irene refused them and walked away. Sebastian was about to put them away when Jim came. "Nice game," he told Sebastian and took the cookies. Sebastian smiled.

"Composer," John called out to Soo Lin who came hesitantly "Here's your game ball. You deserve it, playmaker."

Soo Lin took the ball and held it, unsure of what to do with it. Bill Wiggins came behind her and guided her hands to throw the ball. It went through the hoop and she smiled. "Whoo, that's what I'm talking about!" he said.

As everyone gathered together, they decided that the best way to end such a perfect day was another song. They started by singing all at once.

"Together, together, together everyone

Together, together, come on lets have some fun

Together, were there for each other every time

Together, together come on let's do this right."

Then John decided to sing on his own.

"Here and now it's time for celebration

To finally figure it out

That all our dreams have no limitations

That's what it's all about."

Sherlock followed his example and sang next.

"Everyone is special in their own way

We make each other strong

We're not the same

Were different in a good way

Together's where we belong."

Then everyone sang again.

"We're all in this together

Once we know

That we are

We're all stars

And we see that

We're all in this together

And it shows

When we stand

Hand in hand

Make our dreams come true

Together, together, together everyone

Together, together, come on lets have some fun

Together, were there for each other every time

Together together come on let's do this right."

Jim Moriarty was the next to sing.

"We're all here

And speaking out in one voice

We're going to rock the house

The party's on now everybody make some noise

Come on scream and shout."

Irene Adler wasn't going to allow her cousin to overpower her. She started singing.

"We've arrived because we stuck together

Champions one and all."

After this, everyone joined her to end the song.

"We're all in this together

Once we know

That we are

We're all stars

And we see that

We're all in this together

And it shows

When we stand

Hand in hand

Make our dreams come

We're all in this together

When we reach

We can fly

Go in sight

We can make it

We're all in this together

Once we see

There's a chance

That we have

And we take it

Otters sing along

You know really got it going on

Otters in the house

Everybody say it now

Otters everywhere

Wave your hands up in the air

That's the way we do it

Let's get to it

Time to show the world

We're all in this together

Once we know

That we are

We're all stars

And we see that

We're all in this together

And it shows

When we stand

Hand in hand

Make our dreams come

We're all in this together

When we reach

We can fly

Go in sight

We can make it

We're all in this together

Once we see

There's a chance

That we have

And we take it

Otters everywhere

Wave your hands up in the air

That's the way we do it

Let's get to it

Come on everyone."

 **The story can end here, if you want, but I will post a kind of epilogue on Sunday which is completely my own and has nothing to do with the High School Musical movie. Leave me a review. Let me know if you like the story, if you hate it, or we can just talk about whatever you want, even BTS.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Here it is guys, the last chapter of A Study In Musicals. I think I don't regret posting this story, it's been a fun time ^^ Thanks to everyone who has not only reviewed but also favourited and followed. Know that I will always have a spot in my heart for you. I know that I say this at the end of every story, but I mean it. I love you all! And a last shoutout to DSCWin and crankthatphan for your last reviews on the last chapter.**

 **WARNING: This chapter has nothing to do with the High School Musical movie and it's VERY sad. Enjoy!**

Sherlock and John were sitting outside John's house. It was late at night, after the party the Otters had held to celebrate their victory against the Princes.

"I still don't understand why you think it helps," Sherlock told John.

They had been talking about telling someone about your past experiences. Sherlock was once again doubting if it helped while John was trying to convince him that it did. So far, he wasn't having much success. Sherlock Holmes was the most stubborn person he'd ever met.

"If you tell someone how you feel," he said "It's like lifting the weight off of you. Keeping everything inside you is like carrying a huge weight and it's a relief to finally let it go."

"How would you know?" Sherlock asked.

"Trust me," John answered "I do. My sister, Harry, got a girlfriend some time ago. Her name is Clara. We met her and she was very nice and stuff, but I didn't want any of my friends to know this, because I was afraid that they wouldn't like it. My mum asked me why I was being so distant suddenly and I told her. It really helped me."

"So," Sherlock sounded a bit more convinced now that John had told him his story "You're saying that if I tell someone about my parents it will help me?"

John pretended he hadn't noticed the difficulty Sherlock had in saying this. Obviously, it was a touchy subject. "Of course," he answered "Would you… Would you like to tell _me_ about it?" He added the last part because he thought he saw something glisten in Sherlock's eyes.

Sherlock nodded. "I was eleven," he started "It was the summer before I started High School. We still lived in Edinburgh then. Mycroft had only just entered University. We wanted to go and visit him. It was a long drive and it's ironic that it actually happened near the University.

"I still remember the car. It was a white van, a Ford. Whoever was driving it was driving very fast and they turned and crashed right into our car. My parents and the van's driver were killed instantly. I broke my leg, dislocated my shoulder and I still have a scar." He pulled his sleeve up to reveal the scar that ran across his arm.

"But I survived," he continued "No one knew how I actually made it. I mean, there were only pieces of the car left. Mrs Hudson was there and she saw it all happen. She pulled me out of the wreckage before I lost consciousness and that's what I remember.

"I woke up in hospital, two days later. Mycroft was there. Mrs Hudson had found him somehow and contacted him. He told me that mummy and daddy were dead, not that I didn't already know. I had heard them scream when the van crashed into us.

"Mycroft and I went into foster care, we didn't have any other relatives. Mycroft coped with it and was back to normal in less than a year. I, however didn't. The doctors said it was depression. I refused to speak to anyone, I stopped eating, sleeping. I only played my violin and stared at the walls. Sometimes I would cry, but it was only the times that I remembered the crash.

"Our foster parents theorised that I would get over it soon, so Mycroft had to try and help me when I didn't. He called a specialist. I didn't like her. She pressed me too much for answers. She quit three days after she was hired.

"The decision was made that I had to go to school. It was so hard. From the moment I stepped into that High School I felt unwanted. On my first day, I talked to no one. I remember that the first thing I did when Mycroft came to pick me up was run to him and cry. He was the first person I talked to since mummy and daddy died.

"On my second day I decided to talk to the other children. Not a good idea. They ignored me. They didn't want to be friends with an orphan. So I decided to show them my deductions. I always did it, observed people. Mycroft had taught me and mummy and daddy loved it. But my classmates didn't. If only, they hated me for it. No one wanted to be friends with an orphan who was also a freak.

"They beat me up a couple of times. Mycroft helped me then. As the years went by, I hid my feelings and sat all alone. I observed people, it was my escape route. I tried to control myself so I wouldn't make anyone angry, but sometimes it was just so obvious. I developed a love for chemistry then. I would sit in the lab on my own and try experiments. Mycroft had to buy me a chemistry set to keep me busy at home.

"My chemistry teacher thought that it would be a great opportunity for me to enter this science competition. He said that I was clever enough and that maybe it would help my relationship with the other children. It was the one that Molly found out about. I won it, but it didn't really change anything apart from making me the school's chemistry nerd.

"At the beginning of this school year, Mrs Hudson sent us a letter. She'd kept in touch with us since the accident. She said that we could rent a flat from her if we wanted to. Mycroft had told her about me obviously. It was lucky that he had found a job in London by then. We stayed just a while to get everything ready. It was obvious my classmates couldn't wait for me to leave. They didn't try to hide it. They even made a countdown.

"Finally we left. We came here and I got into your school. You were the only person I'd met in a long time who didn't think I was a freak and wanted to be my friend. When they showed me that video of you, I thought that you were just like them. That's why it was hard to forgive you. But now I know that it's not true."

John listened to Sherlock closely. He'd noticed his uneasiness when he spoke of the accident or his old classmates. He saw the tears glistening in his eyes throughout the whole story. John couldn't believe he had actually been through so much.

"I guess my point is that you make me feel special," Sherlock choked out and the first tear slid down his cheek "And no one's done that since my parents died."

That was both their breaking points. Sherlock broke down crying and John pulled him into his arms, blinking away his own tears. After a while, he let go of him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I promise you that you are special, Sherlock Holmes," he said and wiped some tears away "You are the wisest man I know and I honestly care about you so much."

Sherlock smiled softly and let John kiss him.

"I think you're right," he said when they broke the kiss "This did help me."

"I told you it would," John answered, smiling. Then he asked something that had been on his mind since Sherlock had opened up to him. "Have you ever talked to anyone else about this?"

Sherlock shook his head. "I told you, the specialist we hired quit," he said.

"Not even Mycroft?" John asked, surprised.

"Mycroft didn't want to listen to me," Sherlock answered and he sounded angry "He could see what I was going through but never tried talking to me. If your younger brother had depression and never talked to anyone what would you do? You would talk to him, try to help him. But Mycroft left me to cry myself to sleep when I had nightmares and starve myself for days and days and hired a psychologist."

John was surprised by his outburst. "Is that why you're not close anymore? I mean, it sounded like you were pretty close some years ago."

"Yes," Sherlock answered "I didn't feel the same about him after it. But still, I let him hug me after my first day at school and tend to me when my classmates beat me. In return, he bought me a chemistry set because our foster parents were getting irritated that I kept melting their glasses down. That's the most emotional towards me he got."

"But you were going through the same thing, Sherlock," John pointed out "You had lost your parents all of a sudden and without expecting it and were now living with strangers. He may have seemed to be over it to you, but it can't have been that easy."

"It wasn't the same," Sherlock insisted "I was with them. I had almost died with them. One day, when I was beaten 'til I couldn't even drag my body to the school nurse, I thought about dying and it didn't seem too bad." The last sentence was spoken in a whisper.

John had to keep himself from gasping. Sherlock had just admitted to him that he had been suicidal. He took one of his hands in his own. "I'm glad you didn't try anything," he said and gave his hand a squeeze. Sherlock squeezed it back.

"I think you should talk to Mycroft and tell him how you feel," John told him "Tell him what you told me today. You never know what's really going on inside his head. Even _you_ can't tell that."

Sherlock laughed softly. Then he considered what John had said. Maybe he was right. He rarely doubted himself but maybe this time someone else was right. He decided to talk to his brother. It could be that John was right and Mycroft had simply not known what to tell him or how to help him after the car crash.

"Thank you, John," he said "I don't know where I'd be without you."

* * *

"Exactly where were you?" Mycroft called out to Sherlock when he heard him walk into their flat. He was in the kitchen, getting dinner ready for both of them. Sherlock hadn't told him that he would be late, hadn't even texted him.

"We won the decathlon, as you know, and John and his team won the match so we went out to celebrate," Sherlock answered and closed the door.

"You and John?" Mycroft asked and smirked.

"No, the whole team," Sherlock said, rolling his eyes. Of course, Mycroft had been in the auditorium when he and John had kissed, he knew their feelings for one another.

"Alright," Mycroft said and walked out of the kitchen to greet his brother. He was taking his coat off and hanging it on the coat hanger in the living room.

"You know," he said "I think you sung very nicely earlier."

"Thank you," Sherlock said uneasily and confused.

Mycroft, however, heard something in his brother's voice that he hadn't while he was in the kitchen. He had known him for so long he could tell what it was now.

"Sherlock," he asked seriously "Have you been crying?"

Sherlock stiffened. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. A few seconds later he did the same thing. Then, he walked straight past him heading towards his bedroom. This was enough proof for Mycroft.

"Sherlock!" he called out to him. He stopped and turned around. "What's wrong?" Mycroft asked him.

"I need to talk to you," Sherlock said softly. He crossed the room to reach him and led him to the couch where they both sat down.

"It's complicated," he said.

"Tell me," Mycroft answered, concern in his voice.

"We've grown distant," Sherlock said "It started when mummy and daddy died. I just want to say that it wasn't my fault that this happened. Mycroft, I was depressed and I was taking their death badly. I saw them die, I was there. I almost died! I was terrible, and yet you didn't try anything to help me. You only called that idiot and she was no use. It was getting worse and worse and yet you didn't even talk to me, try to help me. Why?"

Mycroft listened to Sherlock carefully. He had never opened up to him so much since their parents died. "Why didn't you at least try?" Sherlock continued "Why did you leave me like that, on my own and in pain? Do you know what I went through every other night while you slept peacefully? Could you tell what I was thinking every day while I sat there and did nothing?"

Mycroft was forced to remember things he had been trying hard to forget. He remembered getting a call from some Martha Hudson. She told him that his parents and brother had been in a car crash, that his parents hadn't made it and that his brother was in hospital. He remembered going to the hospital, feeling his heart aching all the way and trying to control himself so he wouldn't cry after hearing that his parents were dead.

He remembered seeing Sherlock, only eleven years old, lying in the hospital bed, pale as death and covered in bandages. He remembered that that night he hadn't slept, waiting in case he woke up. He remembered that the next night he fell asleep in the chair he'd been sitting listening to the sounds Sherlock's heart monitor was making.

He remembered Sherlock waking up and having to tell him about their parents. He remembered that they let him take some time off University to let him relax. He remembered when he and Sherlock first got to their foster parents' house. He remembered the sight of Sherlock sitting on their couch, hugging his knees which reached his chin. That was what the boy looked like every day. He would sit in the same spot, not moving, not talking.

He remembered that sometimes Sherlock would cry in this position. He remembered that even then, their foster parents didn't do anything about it. He remembered trying to block out the sound of crying that would wake him up at night. He remembered going to pick his brother up from school on his first day. He remembered that that day Sherlock had run to him, buried his face in his chest and cried his heart out. He remembered cleaning him after he got beaten up by his classmates.

He looked at the Sherlock next to him. So much older, yet he could swear he hadn't changed at all. He was still his younger brother and he still seemed so fragile.

"All these years, and you still call them mummy and daddy," he muttered. Sherlock frowned at him, this wasn't the answer he'd wanted. Mycroft sighed.

"I'm sorry, Sherlock," he said "It's not that I didn't want to help you. I swear, I didn't know how. You had been through such trauma when you shouldn't have seen any of that at your age. But you must understand, it was terrible to see you like that.

"You would sit on the couch, curled up, you almost looked dead. You were always so pale with dark circles and you were a mess. You kept getting thinner and thinner to the point that it wasn't healthy. But I was afraid that by even talking to you it would only make you worse.

"I care about you so much, dear brother, you just don't know it. Every time I saw you cry, I wanted nothing more than to hug you and tell you that everything was going to be alright, but I didn't know if I could actually mean it. When I heard you cry at nights, I wanted to come to your room and soothe your pain, but I didn't know how.

"I called Samantha because I thought she would help, but she didn't. After that, the only thing I felt I could do for you the right way was to clean your wounds when you got hurt at school and cut your hair when it got too long.

"I know it was wrong, Lock, but you must understand. I didn't know how to stand by you in such difficult times. I felt like anything would break you even more and I would have hated it if it happened."

Sherlock could feel tears sting his eyes again. It wasn't only hearing what Mycroft said, hearing his brother's feelings about what had happened, it was also that he had used his nickname. He'd called him like that when they were young, when they'd been inseparable.

He understood now. He realised that even if it had been him who had to help in a situation like the one Mycroft had just described to him, he wouldn't know what to do either. He'd thought he knew what had to happen, but he didn't. Mycroft was right, it was too difficult to handle.

He burst into tears. He let his brother gather him in his arms and hold him against his chest as he cried into his shirt. Mycroft ran his hand through his brother's dark curls and then pressed a small kiss to the top of his head. He held him tighter as Sherlock wrapped his arms around his waist. It made Mycroft feel like the big brother he had to be and hadn't been when his baby brother had needed him most.

"I understand, My," Sherlock muttered sobbing "I understand."

Mycroft held him against him like he had that day he had picked him up from school. "Shh, it's okay," he whispered to him and patted his hair.

"I love you, My," Sherlock said.

"I love you too, Lock," Mycroft replied.

Sherlock cried himself to sleep in his brother's arms after having spilled his soul out to him. Mycroft stroked his hair even when he was sleeping and fell asleep as well, listening to his breathing.

~THE END~

 **Aaaaaaaaaaand that's a wrap! So glad I could share my story with you guys, it gets even better every time :) I will miss reading your sweet comments, but all good things must end. Hopefully, Heir Of Slytherin Book 2 will be up next, so you can look forward to that. 'Til next time!**

 **-Elektra Elentari**


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